DeltaWalker User Guide
v. 1.8.7 Contents DeltaWalker User Guide ...... 1 v. 1.8.7Contents ...... 1 Contents ...... 2 Introducing DeltaWalker...... 8 Welcome! ...... 8 Overview ...... 8 Audience ...... 9 Comparing and Merging Files...... 9 Comparing and Synchronizing Folders...... 10 Three-Way File and Folder Comparison...... 10 Location Transparency...... 10 It's Your DeltaWalker...... 11 Customizable Print and Print Preview...... 11 Report Generation...... 11 Feature Summary...... 11 File comparison...... 11 File comparison...... 13 Other ...... 15 Frequently Asked Questions ...... 17 Product and Platform Editions...... 17 FAQ 1: What platforms does DeltaWalker run on?...... 17 FAQ 2: Does DeltaWalker run on any Linux distribution? ...... 18 FAQ 3: Are the DeltaWalker platforms editions functionally identical?...... 18 FAQ 4: What are the differences between product editions? ...... 19 Installing, Upgrading, Updating, and Uninstalling...... 19 FAQ 5: What are the DeltaWalker system requirements?...... 19 FAQ 6: Which DeltaWalker installer package is best for me? ...... 19 FAQ 7: How do I install/uninstall DeltaWalker? ...... 20 FAQ 8: How do I keep my DeltaWalker up-to-date?...... 20 Running DeltaWalker ...... 21 FAQ 9: How do I run DeltaWalker?...... 21 FAQ 10: How do I increase the memory available to DeltaWalker?...... 21 FAQ 11: Why subsequent DeltaWalker instances start faster?...... 21 FAQ 12: What Character Encodings are available in DeltaWalker? ...... 22 Arranging Windows ...... 25 FAQ 13: What are the differences b/n file and folder comparison windows? ...... 25 FAQ 14: What options do I have in arranging my comparison windows? ...... 25 FAQ 15: I detached my folder comparison view - how do I bring it back?...... 25 FAQ 16: What are the differences b/n a main and local a toolbar?...... 26 Tips and Tricks ...... 26 FAQ 17: How do I traverse between windows using the keyboard? ...... 26 Tip 18: How do I traverse between editors in a comparison window using the keyboard? ...... 27 Tip 19: How can I see what shortcut keys are available in DeltaWalker? ...... 27 FAQ 20: What are the most popular shortcut keys?...... 28 FAQ 21: Can I define my own shortcut keys?...... 29 FAQ 22: What's the easiest way to navigate differences in DeltaWalker?...... 29 FAQ 23: How do I find a string incrementally?...... 30 Troubleshooting...... 30 FAQ 24: I installed/unzipped DeltaWalker but it won't start. Why?...... 30 FAQ 25: Where can I find that mysterious .log file?...... 31 FAQ 26: How do I request a feature or report a problem? ...... 31 Comparing Files...... 33 Comparing Text Files ...... 33 Opening a new file comparison window...... 33 Opening files ...... 33 Pasting text...... 33 Navigating differences...... 34 Comparing Office and PDF documents...... 35 Understanding the Text Comparison...... 35 Colors...... 35 Text editors...... 36 Birds-eye view...... 36 Status bar comparison summary panels...... 36 Comparing XML Files...... 36 Understanding the XML Comparison ...... 38 Opening and Saving Files ...... 39 Opening files ...... 39 Saving files...... 40 Editing Text Files...... 40 Editing—key bindings...... 40 Find/replace...... 41 Incremental find...... 41 Undo/redo...... 42 Personalizing the text editors...... 42 Personalizing the key bindings ...... 42 Manual Text File Merging...... 42 Merge arrows ...... 42 Using the Birds-Eye View...... 43 Printing a Comparison...... 43 Understanding QuickDiffs...... 44 Choosing a Character Encoding ...... 45 Definitions...... 45 Selecting a Character Encoding ...... 45 Understanding the Text Comparison Summary ...... 46 Understanding the XML Comparison Summary...... 47 Performing Three-Way Comparison...... 47 Opening a three-way comparison window ...... 47 Putting the comparison to work...... 48 File layout in three-way comparison ...... 48 Differences in agreement...... 48 Conflicting differences...... 49 Automatic Text File Merging...... 49 Creating a Patch for a Pair of Files ...... 51 Appearance...... 52 Access...... 52 Creating a File Comparison Report...... 52 Access...... 52 Comparing Folders ...... 53 Comparing Folders...... 53 To show the folder comparison window...... 53 To select the folders to compare...... 53 To start a folder comparison ...... 54 To navigate the differences...... 54 Comparing Selected Files ...... 55 To select files for comparison ...... 55 To compare the selected files ...... 55 Understanding the Folder Comparison Summary ...... 56 Performing Three-Way Folder Comparison ...... 56 To open a three-way folder comparison ...... 57 Two-Way Folder Synchronization ...... 57 One-Click Synchronization...... 57 Synchronization using Copy/Move/Delete ...... 58 If you can't move, copy or delete a file or folder on Mac OS X...... 58 Creating a Patch for Multiple File Pairs ...... 59 Access...... 59 Creating a Folder Comparison Report ...... 59 Access...... 60 Working with Sessions...... 61 Overview ...... 61 Saving and Loading...... 62 Saving ...... 62 Loading...... 62 Properties ...... 62 Personalizing DeltaWalker ...... 64 Overview ...... 64 Preferences ...... 64 All Comparisons Preference Page...... 64 File Comparison Preference Page...... 66 File Comparison - Editing Preference Page...... 68 File Comparison - Text Editors Preference Page ...... 69 File Comparison - Hyperlinking Preference Page...... 72 File Comparison - Accessibility Preference Page...... 72 File Comparison - Filters Preference Page...... 73 Folder Comparison Preference Page ...... 75 Folder Comparison - Content Types Preference Page...... 77 Folder Comparison - Filters Preference Page ...... 78 General Preference Page ...... 81 General - Appearance Preference Page...... 82 Colors and Fonts Preference Page...... 83 General - Keys Preference Page ...... 84 General - Help Preference Page...... 85 Rearranging Windows ...... 87 Drop Cursors...... 88 Positioning the Folder Comparison Window...... 88 Tiling File Comparison Windows...... 89 Integrating DeltaWalker with Other Applications...... 90 Integrating with Configuration Management, Source Control and Other Applications ...... 90 Git...... 90 Mercurial...... 91 Subversion ...... 91 StarTeam...... 92 Concurrent Versions System, Windows Client (WinCVS) ...... 92 Macromedia Dreamweaver...... 93 Command Line Parameters ...... 93 Appendices...... 95 Appendix 1 - Dialogs ...... 95 About Dialog...... 95 Confirm Multiple File Delete Dialog...... 96 Configuration Details Dialog...... 97 Find/Replace Dialog...... 98 Folder Comparison Summary Dialog...... 100 Go to Line Dialog ...... 101 Select File Dialog ...... 102 Select Remote File Dialog...... 103 Page Setup Dialog—Margins and Orientation...... 104 Page Setup Dialog—Headers and Footers...... 105 Print Preview Dialog...... 108 Product Unlock Dialog...... 109 Save File Dialog ...... 110 Save Modified Files Dialog...... 111 Set Date Modified Dialog ...... 112 Set Encoding Dialog...... 113 Add/Edit Rule Dialog ...... 115 Text Comparison Summary Dialog ...... 116 Upgrade License Dialog...... 117 XML Comparison Summary Dialog...... 118 Appendix 2 - Legal Notices ...... 120 Appendix 3 - Support and Contact Information ...... 120 Appendix 4 - Deltopia DeltaWalker End-User License Agreement (EULA)...... 120 Regular Expressions Quick Reference ...... 123 Regular expressions ...... 123 Appendix 6 - URI Syntax Quick Reference ...... 126 URI Examples ...... 126
Introducing DeltaWalker
Welcome!
Welcome to DeltaWalker—Deltopia's multi-platform application for visual file and folder comparison. We trust—in fact we guarantee—that you will find this product both useful and fun. This help, like DeltaWalker itself, is simple and intuitive—and very useful. It will, like DeltaWalker itself, introduce you to the state, the art, and the state-of-the-art of comparing, editing and merging files, as well as comparing and synchronizing folders. If you you've never used DeltaWalker before, the Overview will tell you what DeltaWalker can do for you. The At a Glance sections give a visual rundown of key functionality. The Feature Summaries present comprehensive lists of features. Rookie or a pro, be sure to leaf through the extensive FAQ section as its depth, breadth, and straightforward format will likely offer you information you want to know about. The task-oriented Comparing Files and Comparing Folders sections are here to support you as you are performing these two key activities. DeltaWalker is attuned to the way you work and the proof is everywhere—from the flexible and transparent way it adapts its user interface to your style, to the wealth of options offered in its preference pages. Turn to the Appendices for anything you didn't find elsewhere, including Legal Notices, Support and Contact Information and a complete reference of DeltaWalker's dialogs. This help, like DeltaWalker itself, makes a great deal of effort to represent fairly all supported platforms— something evident in the choice of topics as well as screenshots. For simplicity, it makes references only to the Ctrl key although in DeltaWalker using the Ctrl key on Windows and Linux is equivalent to using the Command key on the Mac. Enjoy!
Overview
Accurate, powerful and intuitive, DeltaWalker allows you to visually compare, edit and merge files, as well as compare and synchronize folders. DeltaWalker features a fine-tuned differencing engine, monster text editors, passionately crafted user interface and performs natively on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Audience
DeltaWalker presents a compelling offer to a wide audience—from savvy computer users to software professionals demanding the very best of their tools.
Software and Web developers—compare, analyze, and merge different versions of source files. Use three-way comparison to compare your changes and those of another contributor with a common ancestor and to automatically merge all non-conflicting differences in seconds. Compare and synchronize a local copy of a web site with its server using FTP, SFTP or WebDAV. View and compare XML files both as texts and structures. Compare and merge HTML files as text then preview in-place with the built-in browser. Visualize and compare JAR, EAR, ZIP and other compressed files as if they were simply folders.
Code reviewers—rely on accurate inline difference visualization to see and understand every change. Stay in context and in control within side-by-side integrated folder and file comparison. Generate HTML or XML comparison reports for archiving and auditing purposes or for exchange via email.
Release engineers and managers—visualize, navigate, analyze, edit, and merge complex changes in folder hierarchies and individual files. Reconcile changes from two contributors using three-way comparison and automatic merging.
Language translators—compare two folders with files in different languages and work your way through individual files simply by double-clicking them.
Legal and publishing professionals—let down-to-the-letter comparison accuracy show you even punctuation mark differences when comparing different document drafts. Trust DeltaWalker to quickly extract and compare the text of even the largest PDF and Office documents.
Scientists, researchers, and engineers—save time, eliminate guessing, and minimize errors when comparing text outputs and results of different experiments.
Computer users—eliminate information duplication with speed and confidence. Quickly compare entire drives and folders checking only file sizes and timestamps or use byte-by-byte comparison to guarantee that files are identical then synchronize with a few simple clicks.
Comparing and Merging Files
Text Files
Comparing text files with DeltaWalker is easy and enjoyable thanks to: • Accurate and fast text comparison engine. • Powerful text editing capabilities. • Automatic re-comparison performed in the background as you edit the files. • Unlimited undo/redo tracks every change. • Birds-eye view showing the extent and the location of differences between the compared files. • Difference visualization and navigation. • Full Unicode, MBCS and ASCII support, paired with character encoding auto-detection. • External change notification mechanism notifies you when the files you are working on have been externally modified or deleted ensuring that the DeltaWalker representation of such files or folders is in sync with underlying file system.
XML Files
XML files are text files representing hierarchical data. DeltaWalker offers the two most important views on XML data - a text and a structure views. Together, they present an almost complete picture of your XML data. The structured XML view allows you to focus on the actual logical differences b/n two XML documents by eliminating differences in attribute ordering and formatting.
Comparing and Synchronizing Folders
DeltaWalker offers an ergonomic and productive integration of folder and file comparison windows. No multiple overlapping windows, no separate applications, and no identical tabs: in DeltaWalker everything appears in its place and in context and stays that way. Double-clicking a pair of files in the folder comparison window opens them in a file comparison window just below the folder comparison. Copying and deleting files inside the folder comparison comes standard.
Three-Way File and Folder Comparison
The three-way file comparison and automatic merging of non-conflicting differences allows you to merge even the largest files in seconds - a particularly handy feature when working on versions of files modified by two different people. The three-way folder comparison and automatic synchronization of folder hierarchies does the same for folders.
Location Transparency
Built-in support for FTP, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and WebDAV allows you to treat local and remote files and folders all the same. Protocols like SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) often offer you the same power, security, and flexibility as if you were working with a local file system. Other protocols, like FTP, may present restrictions when copying, moving, or deleting files, or setting files' timestamps. Depending on the protocol and your network's performance you may not even notice you are working with remote resources as you'd have the full range and power of comparison and merge/synchronization operations at your disposal. Your username and password are saved as part of your session and as part of the resource URIs so that they are available to you for later use. They, however, are discreetly omitted from the URI display strings in an effort to protect your privacy. It's Your DeltaWalker
DeltaWalker takes personalization to a new level, with customization and assistance features that let you modify its appearance and behavior to suit both your personal preferences and the specifics of the job at hand. Attention to detail has been paid to all areas of DeltaWalker's user interface and its ability to transparently adapt to the way you work with it. From innovative idioms like local toolbars and menus used in the folder comparison window through state-of-the art graphic design and window animation, to the ability to customize anything from fonts and colors to tab positions and shortcut keys, DeltaWalker showcases a commitment to the highest standards of good user interface design.
Customizable Print and Print Preview
Printing a file or a folder comparison in DeltaWalker is a click away. A scalable print preview lets you see exactly what's going to be printed and the page setup dialog allows you to fully customize and preview your headers and footers before printing.
Report Generation
DeltaWalker is capable of producing both file and folder comparison reports in HTML and XML formats. You can optionally create linked folder comparison reports which are folder comparison reports with links to individual file comparison reports. XML and HTML reports are a great way to create electronic snapshots of the differences b/n pairs of files or folders. Such snapshots can easily be stored and used to trace the change history of files of interest; they are also well suited for electronic exchange e.g. via email.
Feature Summary
File comparison
Feature Description Std Oro
Two-way comparison Shows added, deleted and blocks of text with inline changes.
In-place editing Full-featured text editor.
Remote comparison • Read-only over HTTP(S) • Read/write over (S)FTP, WebDAV
Compressed files Visualization and comparison of BZ2, EAR, GZ, JAR, TAR, TBZ2, TGZ and ZIP files. Office and PDF documents Text extraction and comparison of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice and Adobe PDF documents.
Optional insertion of line Preference-controlled ability to insert line breaks at a breaks specified offset when loading Office documents.
Find/Replace Regular-expressions-powered Find/Replace.
Incremental Find Searches for a word as you type it in the editor (a.k.a. "vi style find").
Instant re-comparison As a file is edited, comparison is performed discreetly in the background, ensuring changes are shown as soon as they are made.
Character encoding Full support for Unicode and MBCS. Choice to work with languages or character sets.
Encoding auto-detection Upon opening a text file DeltaWalker will automatically attempt to deduce its encoding.
Undo/Redo Unlimited Undo/Redo works across files participating in a comparison.
Bird's eye view Thin vertical stripe showing at a glance the extent and the location of differences between the compared files.
QuickDiffs Show what and how has changed during editing. Hover over the colored Quick Diff area to see a tooltip with the original text.
Three-way comparison Allows for comparing two versions of a file against a common ancestor. Full merge and editing capabilities available. Supported layouts:
• 3-way vertical, ancestor in the middle • 3-way horizontal • 3-way vertical, ancestor on top
Automatic text file merging Automatic merging of non-conflicting differences from two versions of a file into an ancestor. Conflicting changes are highlighted and left for review and resolution. XML Structure view XML files are compared both as text and as structures (technology preview).
HTML Design view HTML files are compared both as text and as rendered by the system-default Web browser One-click merge Context-sensitive merge buttons appear when the cursor is over a difference and allow for a single-click merge. Holding down Cmd/Ctrl or Cmd/Ctrl+Shift offers additional options.
Report generation HTML and XML format reports
Patch creation Ability to generate UNIX Diff patches in four different formats
External change notification Notifies you when a file or a folder open for comparison has been changed on the file system.
Print and print preview Accurate, WYSIWYG print and print preview.
Page setup Interactive page margins, header & footer setup allows for including file names, page numbers, date/time, or other advanced tags.
Regular expression filters Allow you to specify keywords or symbols to be ignored during file comparison.
File comparison
Feature Description Std Oro
Background processing Folder comparison is performed on a background thread, allowing you to continue to use DeltaWalker while folder comparison is in progress.
Clear, intuitive use of colors Uses colors to depict added, deleted, and different files between the compared folder hierarchies. Uses dimmed colors for:
• Same files and folders (different folders are shown in full color). • Older timestamps
Remote comparison Read/write over (S)FTP, WebDAV Compressed files support Visualization and comparison of BZ2, EAR, GZ, JAR, TAR, TBZ2, TGZ and ZIP files.
One-click two-way folder • Update First - copy newer and orphan synchronization files from Second folder to First. • Update Second - copy newer and orphan files from First folder to Second. • Update Both - copy newer and orphan files from either side to the other. • Mirror to First - make First folder identical to Second. • Mirror to Second
Fine granularity two-way Synchronize folder hierarchies via a combination of folder synchronization select and copy, move and delete operations.
Search don't scroll Search as fast as you type for files and folders of interest.
Filters Shell and Regular expression filters allow you to specify patterns for inclusion or exclusion of files and folders during comparison.
Report generation HTML and XML reports; "Linked Reports" option allows you to include links to individual file comparison reports.
Patch creation Ability to generate folder comparison UNIX Diff patches in four different formats
Next/previous difference Offers an efficient way (incl. Ctrl + Mouse Wheel) to traverse folder differences.
Print and print preview Accurate, WYSIWYG print and print preview.
3-way comparison Available layouts:
• 3-way vertical, ancestor in the middle • 3-way horizontal • 3-way vertical, ancestor on top
Automatic three-way merge Automatic merging of non-conflicting differences and synchronization from two folder hierarchies into a common ancestor.
Bird's Eye Thin vertical stripe showing at a glance the extent and the location of differences between the compared folder hierarchies.
Local toolbar A toolbar offering access to operations specific only to folder comparison. Keeps overall user interface simple and uncluttered.
One-click resource Ability to exclude, i.e. add to the list of folder exclusion comparison filters, files and/or folders via a single right click, paired with easy access to those filters from within folder comparison.
One-click Set as Root folder Ability to set root folder in folder comparison via a single click.
Configurable threshold Ability to ignore differences in timestamps smaller when comparing than a configurable threshold. Eliminates artificial timestamps timestamp differences introduced by file systems e.g. FAT32 with low-accuracy timestamp-setting API.
Other
Feature Description Std Oro Context sensitive help Comprehensive help coverage of all aspects of product functionality. Help topic capable of displaying alongside the main application area or application dialog boxes.
Software updates System tray-based software update notifications.
Command line interface Command line supported file and folder comparison operations facilitating integration with other applications.
Sessions A DeltaWalker session offers a quick way of launching a recent file or folder comparison. It holds all the information required to run that comparison the same way you ran it last time.
Content type detection Built-in mechanism for automatic file content type detection paired with a set of predefined content types mapped to known file extensions and the ability to manually overwrite these mappings if necessary.
Drag and drop Drag and drop files or folders from Windows Explorer or your desktop directly into the content panels or the file/folder selectors.
Preferences Ability to customize most aspects of comparison operations - from colors and fonts to settings affecting the results of the actual comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Product and Platform Editions
FAQ 1: What platforms does DeltaWalker run on?
DeltaWalker is an Eclipse-based product offering written in the Java programming language. Both Java and Eclipse run on a wide range of hardware and software platforms. With DeltaWalker 1.0 we've chosen to support three of the most popular operating systems on their preferred hardware: • Microsoft Windows® • Apple Mac OS X • Linux® on their preferred hardware. Among these three we test on the most popular combinations of operating system and Java Platform. These constitute our reference platforms. DeltaWalker will likely run fine on other versions of the supported operating systems environments beyond the reference platforms we regularly test. However, we do not systematically test them and we cannot guarantee the compatibility and the quality of DeltaWalker on those environments.
DeltaWalker Reference Platforms
Processor Window Operating system Java 2 Platform architecture system
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) for Microsoft Windows:
• Edition 5.0 Microsoft Windows Intel x86 Win32 • Edition 6.0 • 2000, XP, IBM 32-bit SDK for Windows, Java 2 Technology Vista Edition: • Edition 5.0 service release 1 • Edition 6.0 early release program
Intel x86 Carbon Java for Mac OS X: Apple Mac OS X • 10.4.6 or • J2SE 5.0 newer • J2SE 6.0 • 10.5 or newer
Sun Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) for Microsoft Windows:
• Edition 5.0 Intel x86 Ubuntu, Fedora recent GTK • Edition 6.0 and x64 releases IBM 32-bit SDK for Linux, Java 2 Technology Edition: • Edition 5.0 • Edition 6.0
FAQ 2: Does DeltaWalker run on any Linux distribution?
DeltaWalker should run fine on any Linux distribution that has GTK+ 2.2.1 or higher and Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0 or higher. Due to the variety of Linux distributions and the effort associated with testing on each distribution running a supported JRE, we've focused our testing efforts on the most popular supported environments listed above.
FAQ 3: Are the DeltaWalker platforms editions functionally identical?
For the most part—yes. DeltaWalker is written in the Java programming language, yet it looks native and performs natively on all supported platforms because its user interface is built using the native widgets of each supported platform. Subtle differences in performance and functionality of those widgets across platforms can occasionally lead to minor differences in the respective areas in DeltaWalker. In the name of a tight visual integration with each supported operating system, DeltaWalker comes with a set of icons specifically designed to match the icons of the operating system. The provided installers are also OS-specific and their goal is to provide as native user experience as possible. For example, on Microsoft Windows DeltaWalker comes bundled with a shell extension that ensures a close integration with the Windows shell; and on Mac OS X—a DMG package. Lastly, DeltaWalker extends some native dialogs such as the Select File dialog to a different degree on the different platforms. For instance, the Windows and the Linux Select File dialogs allow for choosing the encoding and the line delimiter when opening or saving files; these enhancements are not yet available in the Mac OS X version of DeltaWalker. All such differences are auxiliary in nature and add up to only slight variations in functionality and performance.
FAQ 4: What are the differences between product editions?
Deltopia offers DeltaWalker in two editions - Standard and Oro. The differences between them are summarized in Comparing Files Feature Matrix and Comparing Folders Feature Matrix.
Installing, Upgrading, Updating, and Uninstalling
FAQ 5: What are the DeltaWalker system requirements?
The hardware of most modern mainstream PCs and Macs packs plenty of power to run DeltaWalker. If ever in doubt however, keep in mind that Deltopia recommends 512MB or more RAM and 100MB or more of free disk space. For OS and Java platform requirements, please consult the What platforms does DeltaWalker run on? topic.
FAQ 6: Which DeltaWalker installer package is best for me?
DeltaWalker is offered in, at a minimum, two types of installer packages per supported platform: • An OS-native installer - an MSI installer on Windows and a DMG package on the Mac. • A zip file for each supported platform. The native installers offer the advantage of a tighter DeltaWalker integration with the target Operating and/or Windowing System. For instance, the DeltaWalker MSI installer can create a desktop, a start menu program, and a quick launch bar shortcuts. It also can install a shell extension and can add a context- sensitive menu to the Windows Explorer, which would allow you to easily launch DeltaWalker comparisons from the context-menu in Windows Explorer. The actual installation of these is, of course, optional. Zip files offer the simplest way of deployment - download, unzip, locate the DeltaWalker executable, and run it. To uninstall - simply delete the DeltaWalker installation folder. Note that we strongly recommend against unzipping over an existing DeltaWalker installation as this may be a source for subtle runtime errors. Where it makes sense, Deltopia also offers a third type of installer - a DeltaWalker-JRE bundle. Such an installer is ideal for users who don't currently have one of the DeltaWalker-required JREs, or who want to setup and run DeltaWalker with the latest JRE, without changing the JRE currently configured for use by other Java applications. The DeltaWalker-JRE bundle features the latest Sun JRE and all the advantages that come with that - latest performance improvements, fixes, etc. To reiterate - such JRE is installed and made available exclusively to DW to eliminate any possibility of disrupting the rest of your system. Currently Deltopia offers a DeltaWalker-JRE bundle only on Microsoft Windows, for two reasons: • Apple has made the full version of Java 2, Standard Edition, a core component of the Mac OS X ensuring optimal performance. • Installing Java on Linux doesn't lend itself well to integration with other installation packages. FAQ 7: How do I install/uninstall DeltaWalker?
The actual installation Depends on the type of installer you choose.
To Install DeltaWalker
• Zip files are simple on all platforms—download, unzip, locate the DeltaWalker executable and run it. • MSI installer on Windows—download the .msi file, [double] click on it and follow the instructions. Most users would find the default settings of the MSI installer safe and adequate for their needs. • DMG (Disk IMage) package—open (double-click on) the package, i.e. "mount" it, then run the Install DeltaWalker.pkg package installer.
To Uninstall DeltaWalker • Zip files—simply delete the DeltaWalker installation folder. To delete the DeltaWalker application data, including preferences, issue the following command from the command line:
Mac OS X and Linux: rm -fr ~/.deltawalker
Windows: rd /q /s "%USERPROFILE%\.deltawalker"
• MSI installers on Windows—run the DeltaWalker installer—either by launching the original .msi file or by going to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs—then select the Remove option. The installer will do the rest. • DMG package—navigate to the Applications folder and delete the DeltaWalker application bundle. Delete the application data as you'd do with a Zip installation.
FAQ 8: How do I keep my DeltaWalker up-to-date?
Service and Minor Increment Updates
DeltaWalker uses a lightweight mechanism to check whether a new version has been published on Deltopia's web site. By default such check is automatically performed each time you launch DeltaWalker. You can control this behavior from Preferences > General > Automatically find new updates and notify me. To manually check for updates select Help > Check for Software Updates. The result of the check is displayed in a balloon tip in the System Tray. Running DeltaWalker
FAQ 9: How do I run DeltaWalker?
The way you run DeltaWalker largely depends on the type of installer you installed DeltaWalker with and on the operating system you are running. For instance, if you are running Windows and you used the MSI installer accepting its default settings, you can launch DeltaWalker using any of the shortcuts the installer created for you—the desktop, the start menu program, or the quick launch bar shortcut. If you used the DMG installer on Mac OS X then look for the DeltaWalker bundle in the Applications folder. If you used the zip file on any of the supported platforms, navigate to the installation directory and run the DeltaWalker executable.
FAQ 10: How do I increase the memory available to DeltaWalker?
By default DeltaWalker is configured to run with the following heap-related JVM arguments: DeltaWalker -vmargs -Xms32M -Xmx256M where -Xms32M sets the initial Java heap size and -Xmx256M sets the maximum Java heap size. These work well when comparing large and very large folder hierarchies consisting of tens of thousands of files. Comparing even larger folders or folders containing very large files e.g. larger than several Giga bytes, can occasionally lead to out of memory errors. Should this occur, we recommend that you increase the maximum Java heap size to 384MB or 512MB; the general rule of thumb is that a java application heap size should not exceed 3/4 of your physical system memory. There are two easy ways to change the DeltaWalker heap size: • Temporarily, from the command line; the following command launches DeltaWalker and reserves a maximum of 384 MB of memory for it: DeltaWalker -vmargs -Xmx384M For a list of options supported by your JVM type on command line:
java -X
Options starting with -X are implementation-specific and may not be applicable to all JVMs.
• Permanently, in the deltawalker.ini file located in the DeltaWalker installation folder. Make sure that the each vmarg specified in deltawalker.ini is placed on a new line.
FAQ 11: Why subsequent DeltaWalker instances start faster?
To provide optimal user experience and quick startup DeltaWalker employs a mechanism that allows you to open new comparison windows in an already running instance if there is such. DeltaWalker is capable of launching new application instances—Window > Open in New Window—that, in all aspects, behave just like the individual instances you would launch from the command line, except that they launch faster. DeltaWalker leverages this functionality to ensure fast startup times for all subsequent invocations of DeltaWalker after the first one. Launching a file or a folder comparison from the command line by default opens a new comparison window inside an already running DeltaWalker instance and brings that instance's window to the front of the applications on your desktop. By a large margin of user votes, this is regarded as the most intuitive and performance/resource considerate way of launching new file or folder comparisons from the command line.
FAQ 12: What Character Encodings are available in DeltaWalker?
DeltaWalker supports the same wide-range of character encodings supported by the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition v. 5.0 (1.5) or newer, as listed in the tables below. The first column in both tables contains the names of the encodings, a.k.a. canonical names, that DeltaWalker uses. When an encoding has an alternative name, it is listed in the second column of the tables. Although the alternative names are being gradually phased out, they are listed here as many people may be more familiar with them than with the newer, canonical ones. The third column gives a brief description of each encoding.
Basic Encodings
Name Alternative Name Description
American Standard Code for Information US-ASCII ASCII Interchange
windows-1250 Cp1250 Windows Eastern European
windows-1251 Cp1251 Windows Cyrillic
windows-1252 Cp1252 Windows Latin-1
windows-1253 Cp1253 Windows Greek
windows-1254 Cp1254 Windows Turkish
windows-1257 Cp1257 Windows Baltic
ISO-8859-1 ISO8859_1 ISO 8859-1, Latin Alphabet No. 1
ISO-8859-2 ISO8859_2 Latin Alphabet No. 2
ISO-8859-4 ISO8859_4 Latin Alphabet No. 4 ISO-8859-5 ISO8859_5 Latin/Cyrillic Alphabet
ISO-8859-7 ISO8859_7 Latin/Greek Alphabet
ISO-8859-9 ISO8859_9 Latin Alphabet No. 5
ISO-8859-13 ISO8859_13 Latin Alphabet No. 7
ISO-8859-15 ISO8859_15 Latin Alphabet No. 9
KOI8-R KOI8_R KOI8-R, Russian
UTF-8 UTF8 Eight-bit UCS Transformation Format
Sixteen-bit UCS Transformation Format, byte UTF-16 order identified by an optional byte-order mark
Sixteen-bit Unicode Transformation Format, big- UTF-16BE UnicodeBigUnmarked endian byte order
Sixteen-bit Unicode Transformation Format, little- UTF-16LE UnicodeLittleUnmarked endian byte order
Extended Encodings
Alternative Description Name Name
windows-1255 Cp1255 Windows Hebrew
windows-1256 Cp1256 Windows Arabic
windows-1258 Cp1258 Windows Vietnamese
ISO-8859-3 ISO8859_3 Latin Alphabet No. 3 ISO-8859-6 ISO8859_6 Latin/Arabic Alphabet
ISO-8859-8 ISO8859_8 Latin/Hebrew Alphabet windows-31j MS932 Windows Japanese
EUC-JP EUC_JP JISX 0201, 0208 and 0212, EUC encoding Japanese x-EUC-JP-LINUX EUC_JP_LINUX JISX 0201, 0208 , EUC encoding Japanese
Shift_JIS SJIS Shift-JIS, Japanese
ISO-2022-JP ISO2022JP JIS X 0201, 0208, in ISO 2022 form, Japanese x-mswin-936 MS936 Windows Simplified Chinese
GB18030 Simplified Chinese, PRC standard x-EUC-CN EUC_CN GB2312, EUC encoding, Simplified Chinese
GBK GBK, Simplified Chinese
ISCII91 ISCII91 ISCII91 encoding of Indic scripts x-windows-949 MS949 Windows Korean
EUC-KR EUC_KR KS C 5601, EUC encoding, Korean
ISO-2022-KR ISO2022KR ISO 2022 KR, Korean x-windows-950 MS950 Windows Traditional Chinese
Windows Traditional Chinese with Hong Kong x-MS950-HKSCS MS950_HKSCS extensions
CNS11643 (Plane 1-3), EUC encoding, Traditional x-EUC-TW EUC_TW Chinese
Big5 Big5, Traditional Chinese Big5-HKSCS Big5_HKSCS Big5 with Hong Kong extensions, Traditional Chinese
TIS-620 TIS620 TIS620, Thai
Arranging Windows
FAQ 13: What are the differences b/n file and folder comparison windows?
Two types of windows can occupy the DeltaWalker application window—views and editors. An example for a view is the Folder Comparison window and for an editor—the File Comparison window. The differences between views and editors, while subtle, are important: • There is only one instance of a given view type per application window e.g. there can be only a single folder comparison in a given instance of DeltaWalker. • Editors and views cannot be mixed in the same stack of tabbed windows e.g. you cannot drag and drop the folder comparison window into an area together with a file comparison window. • Views can be docked/moved to any part of the application window, whereas editors occupy only one area of that window. • Views can be detached from the application window (and attached back by dragging the view by its tab and dropping it over the main window). • Making changes to an editor puts it in a modified state, whereas changes made to a view are applied instantly to the data it represents. For instance if a modified text comparison window is closed without saving, the changes to file(s) it represents will be lost. • Views can have local toolbars, as is the case with the folder comparison window, whereas editors cannot—editors are associated with the main toolbar.
FAQ 14: What options do I have in arranging my comparison windows?
There are many ways to arrange the views and editors inside the DeltaWalker application window. Please refer to the Rearranging Windows topic in the Personalizing DeltaWalker section for details.
FAQ 15: I detached my folder comparison view - how do I bring it back?
If you detach your folder comparison view by selecting Detached from the view's menu, or by dragging and dropping it outside of the application window you need to grab the view by its tab and drag and drop it back inside the main window. FAQ 16: What are the differences b/n a main and local a toolbar?
There are two kinds of toolbars in DeltaWalker: The main toolbar is displayed at the top of the application window just below the menu bar. The contents of this toolbar remains constant regardless of the kind and the number of open windows. Some toolbar buttons are enabled or disabled depending on the state of the active view or editor. The folder comparison local toolbar appears in the title bar of the folder comparison view. Actions in that toolbar apply only to the folder comparison view. The folder comparison local toolbar also includes a Menu button, shown as an inverted triangle, that contains actions for that view.
Tips and Tricks
FAQ 17: How do I traverse between windows using the keyboard?
In DeltaWalker file comparison windows are often referred to as editors and folder comparison windows— as views. Editors and view windows by design don't mix together and DeltaWalker is configured to allow only one folder comparison view per application window. You will often need to traverse between the currently opened editors. Here are the ways you can do that using only the keyboard:
• Ctrl+F6 to traverse forward (counter clock-wise) Keyboard Shortcut • Ctrl+Shift+F6 to traverse backward (clock-wise) • Ctrl+Shift+E to bring up the Switch to Editor dialog box • Ctrl+E to bring up the Quick Switch Editor popup
The Quick Switch Editor popup shown below is a particularly handy way of getting quickly to a file comparison window when you have many open comparisons:
In the case of dozens of editors, you may find it useful to start typing the first letters of the file comparison window name as listed in the popup, and only the editor name(s) starting with those letters will be shown
Tip 18: How do I traverse between editors in a comparison window using the keyboard?
To traverse between the text editors/folder trees and the file/folder selectors in a comparison window use:
Keyboard Shortcut • Ctrl+Tab to traverse forward (counter clock-wise) • Ctrl+Shift+Tab to traverse backward (clock-wise)
To change the behavior of the Tab key to insert space instead of tab characters use the File Comparison > Editing > Text Editors preference page options.
Tip 19: How can I see what shortcut keys are available in DeltaWalker?
Keyboard Shortcut • Ctrl+Shift+L to bring up the list of DeltaWalker key bindings
The above shortcut presents you with the following list(s) of shortcuts available in DeltaWalker:
As seen at the bottom of these images pressing Ctrl+Shift+L again will bring up the Keys preference page—another place where you can examine the DeltaWalker key bindings and, more importantly, where you can define your own key bindings.
FAQ 20: What are the most popular shortcut keys?
A shortcut key is a personal thing, yet customer feedback and our own experience show that some keys are more popular than others. Here are the top ones:
Ctrl+Mouse Wheel Difference traversal
Ctrl+F6 (Ctrl+Shift+F6) File comparison window traversal
Ctrl+Shift+F Opens a new file comparison window
Ctrl+Shift+D Opens a new folder (directory) comparison window
Replaces, copies after, and deletes a difference • Merge button • Ctrl+Merge button • Ctrl+Shift+Merge button
Ctrl+Tab (Ctrl+Shift+Tab) Traverses b/n the editors in a file comparison window
Ctrl+J (Ctrl+Shift+J) Enters incremental find mode
FAQ 21: Can I define my own shortcut keys?
Yes. Go to Edit > Preferences > General > Keys if you are used to different key bindings (shortcut keys) than the ones DeltaWalker ships with. In the Keys preference page select the command whose binding you want to change then click in the "Binding" field and enter the shortcut key of your choice. The new key binding will be in effect immediately and will continue to be available in subsequent application sessions.
FAQ 22: What's the easiest way to navigate differences in DeltaWalker?
Navigating the differences is but the most common operation of a file and folder comparison application and DeltaWalker takes this into account by providing the following alternatives:
Go to Next Difference
Menu Navigate > Next Difference
Keyboard + Mouse Ctrl+Mouse wheel
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow
Other Lower mini diff button located just below common scrollbar
Go to Previous Difference
Menu Navigate > Previous Difference
Keyboard + Mouse Ctrl+Mouse wheel Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow
Other Upper mini diff button located just below common scrollbar
FAQ 23: How do I find a string incrementally?
Use Edit > Incremental Find Next (Ctrl+J) or Edit > Incremental Find Previous (Ctrl+Shift+J) to enter the incremental find mode, and start typing the string to match. Matches are found incrementally as you type. The search string is shown in the status line. Press Ctrl+J or Ctrl+Shift+J to go to the next or previous match. Press Enter or Esc to exit incremental find mode.
Troubleshooting
FAQ 24: I installed/unzipped DeltaWalker but it won't start. Why?
The most likely reasons DeltaWalker would not start after you have installed or unzipped it are:
Wrong or Missing Java Virtual Machine
DeltaWalker requires a suitable Java 2 Platform to run. If no such JVM is installed on your machine, DeltaWalker will show a message box alerting you to this fact. Should that be the case, Deltopia recommends that you download a DeltaWalker + latest Sun JRE bundle from the DeltaWalker's download site or you download and install such JRE yourself.
Unsupported platform
Make sure your software and hardware configuration are among the ones DeltaWalker is certified to run on, as listed in the DeltaWalker Reference Platforms. For instance, DeltaWalker will not run on Windows 95.
Missing GTK (Linux-only)
If you in downloaded and installed DeltaWalker for Linux, you need to make sure that your Linux distribution has a correctly installed GTK+ 2.1.1 or higher.
New DeltaWalker Unzipped Over an Older DeltaWalker
While this may work, we strongly recommend that you avoid doing it. Choose one of the following, safer installation options: • Where possible use the installer for a given platform as it will most often do the right thing. For instance, before installing a copy of DeltaWalker , the Windows MSI installer will first uninstall an existing previous installation. • Unzip the new DeltaWalker installation in a folder, different than the folders of existing installations. If you are using the zip package, you can have multiple DeltaWalker installations side-by-side coexisting happily. These can be installations of different DeltaWalker versions. • When possible, use the Update Manager to keep your DeltaWalker installation up-to-date with the latest DeltaWalker updates published on the Deltopia's web site.
Insufficient Memory or Disk Space
Make sure that your hardware configuration is adequate for running DeltaWalker.
FAQ 25: Where can I find that mysterious .log file?
DeltaWalker reports different messages differently depending on their severity and their urgency. For instance many tips, warnings, and some errors are reported unobtrusively in the info panel at the top of file and folder comparison windows. Messages that require immediate attention are usually displayed in a modal dialog. Yet others, typically warnings and less severe error conditions, are recorded in the DeltaWalker .log file. There are two easy ways to access the .log file:
1. On your file system navigate to HOME/.deltawalker/.metadata/ e.g. on Windows that often is C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\.deltawalker\.metadata\.log. 2. Help > About Deltopia DeltaWalker, then click the Configuration Details button. This brings up the Configuration Details dialog displaying detailed information about the environment. Click on the View Error Log to view the DeltaWalker .log file in a text editor of your choice.
FAQ 26: How do I request a feature or report a problem?
Should there be a feature you'd like to see in DeltaWalker, or you've come across a problem, please write to us at [email protected].
To Report a Problem
If you come across something that appears to be wrong, please post a bug, even if you are not certain that it's really a bug. Depending on the severity and priority of the problem you report, there is a good chance that you can get a fix for it promptly. When reporting a bug, please follow the good bug-reporting- etiquette by including the following in your report: 1. Product name and version 2. OS and JRE Platform 3. Product's log file 4. Steps to reproduce the problem 5. Error message, if any, or a screenshot, if necessary Information about items 1, 2, and 3 can easily be obtained by going to Help > About Deltopia DeltaWalker and pressing the Configuration Details button. This will bring up the Configuration Details dialog: • Click on the Copy to Clipboard button to copy the information about your environment then paste it in your bug report. • Click on the View Error Log to open the .log file in a text editor of your choice. Copy the .log file information from the text editor and paste it inside your bug report. Alternatively you can attach the .log file to your bug report.
To Submit a Feature Request
When submitting an enhancement request or an idea for a new feature, please be aware that by submitting your idea, you acknowledge and agree that any such idea is non-confidential, and that Deltopia shall be free to use any idea or information that you submit on a perpetual, royalty-free basis, for any purpose whatsoever, including use, modification, display, and distribution, and/or in the development, manufacture, marketing, and maintenance of Deltopia products and services without any obligation to you.
Comparing Files
Comparing Text Files
Comparing files is easy—open a file comparison window and load the files, or paste the texts, you want to compare.
Opening a new file comparison window
Menu File > Compare Files
Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+F
Opening files
• Type file path; auto-suggest and auto-complete will make this File Selector: easier • Click button to bring up Select File dialog
• Select from history (dropdown list)
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+O (when file comparison window has the input focus)
Drag a file from the file-system browser and drop it onto one of the path Drag and Drop entry/browse widgets or onto one of the text editors.
Pasting text
Menu Edit > Paste Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+V
DeltaWalker initiates the actual comparison as soon as a file is loaded, or text is pasted, into a text editor. As a result you'd get a window that looks something like this (actual editor content will be different):
Navigating differences
Once you have content in your comparison window's editors you'd most likely want to: • Make sense of the comparison • Navigate the differences DeltaWalker provides the following ways for difference navigation:
Menu File > Navigate > Next/Previous Difference
Toolbar button /
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow / Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow
Mouse Ctrl+Mouse Wheel
Other Difference navigation mini-buttons / at the bottom of the common scrollbar
Comparing Office and PDF documents
DeltaWalker is capable of extracting the text content of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org and PDF documents. When loading such files, either via drag and drop or using the file selectors, DeltaWalker will strip away their formatting and work only with their text contents. Almost always this is the type of comparison one expect to see when comparing documents. DeltaWalker can extract text from the document/application formats: • Microsoft Word 97-2008 (.doc and .docx) • Microsoft Excel 97-2008 (.xls and .xlsx) • Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2008 (.ppt) • Unencrypted Adobe PDF (.pdf) When comparing Office documents it is often desirable to break long paragraphs at word boundaries to avoid horizontal scrolling. You can control this functionality from Preferences > File Comparison > Editing page. Please note that text from Word document tables is not extracted. Once extracted, the text cannot be saved back into its original file, however you can easily save it as plain text.
Understanding the Text Comparison
Several forms of visual communication work together to clearly and effectively get across the results of a text comparison.
Colors
No matter where used—in the text editors, the folder trees, the birds-eye view, or the QuickDiffs—four colors consistently communicate one thing—the type of a difference. The default values of these colors are:
• Orange, for deletions. • Blue, for additions. • Green, for differences. • Red, for conflicting differences (three-way comparison only). You can customize the default colors from General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts. In two-way comparison, differences are defined always in relation to the first content area; in three-way— in relation to the common ancestor. For instance, an addition means that a block of text has been added to the second file, relative to the first. Text editors
The files participating in text comparison are displayed using text editors. Inside these editors blocks of text identified as differences are colored accordingly and connecting lines are run between blocks that are related. For convenience, and to save screen real estate, an out-of-the-box DeltaWalker uses a common scroll bar to keep the text editors synchronized and related blocks of text aligned, as the editors are scrolled up and down. The alignment is relative to the vertical center of the connecting lines panel. DeltaWalker uses powerful text editors offering a wealth of features, including: • Unlimited, linked undo/redo • Find/Replace, including the use of regular expressions • Incremental Find • Whitespace character display • Tab width and type customization • Line numbers • Customizable colors • Text drag and drop
Birds-eye view
The birds-eye view, located on the right side of the comparison window, offers you a scaled down visual map of the type, frequency, and distribution of differences. To do that it uses small rectangles, a.k.a. as markers. Clicking on a birds-view marker scrolls the editors to the location of the actual difference and selects it. With large files, containing tens of hundreds of differences, a single marker often represents more than one differences. Clicking on such marker scrolls the editors to the first difference and selects it.
Status bar comparison summary panels
Three panels in the bottom right corner of the status bar represent the numbers of deleted, added, and different text blocks in the second file relative to the first. In three-way comparison, an additional fourth panel shows the number of conflicting differences.
Comparing XML Files
Comparing XML files is similar to comparing text files—open a file comparison window and load the files, or paste the texts, you want to compare. When opening files for comparison, DeltaWalker goes the extra step of analyzing the extension and the content of the files. If they are identified as XML, a second tab, containing a structure view of the XML content, is created for each XML file. The text and the structure views are arranged using a tab strip placed in the bottom left corner of the file comparison window. The following screenshot illustrates the text view of an XML comparison:
And here is how the structure view of the same two files looks like:
XML files are, by definition, text files and comparing them as such will suffice most of the time. There are times however when running a text comparison on XML files may not yield the results you'd expect. For instance, two files with otherwise identical XML content will be reported as different text files when they have different order of attributes, or the formatting of the file is different. Although designed to be human- readable, XML data are often computer-generated and many XML generators are clueless about formatting and attribute-ordering. DeltaWalker's XML structure view saves you the guesswork in such cases—the pair of text and structure views gives you the two most important views on your XML data and focuses your attention on the actual XML differences. When comparing XML files with DeltaWalker 1.0 keep in mind the following about the XML structure view: • It can display only XML documents that are well-formed, i.e.: o The XML documents must have a root element. o The XML elements must have a closing tag and must be properly nested. o The XML attribute values must always be quoted. o The XML tags are case sensitive. • It is read-only—you can edit the document only in the text view. When editing an XML document in the text view, remember that the document must continue to be well-formed after your changes, for the structure view to load it. Changes made to the text view are reflected in the structure view only when the structure view is activated. • Selection b/n text and structure views is not synchronized—i.e. selection in one view is not carried in the other view and vice versa.
Understanding the XML Comparison
XML and folder comparisons are similar in some aspects, e.g. they both represent structured, hierarchical content, and different in others—e.g. the XML structure view represents XML nodes—elements, attributes, etc.—while the nodes in the folder comparison view represent files and folders on the file system. Both comparisons use the same way of depicting differences—deleted, added, and different nodes are shown using colored lines running horizontally through the comparison window. The same operations for selecting and expanding nodes apply in both comparisons. According to the W3C, when two XML documents have the same canonical form, they are logically equivalent within the given application context (except a few limitations covering unusual cases). The canonical form, therefore, is the ideal form for XML files to be in for the purposes of comparison, as it eliminates most irrelevant differences. With this release DeltaWalker lays the foundation of what can be done with XML files in the context of structured representation—operations like editing, and merging, DTD or XML schema validation are all to come. That said, this release brings you the following features, important in the context of comparing XML files: • Hierarchical representation, natural for XML files. • Intuitive way of depicting differences already familiar from folder comparison. • Sorting and alignment of attributes. • Elimination of superficial differences in formatting. • Comparison summary showing the number of added, deleted, and different element, attribute, and character data nodes. Opening and Saving Files
Opening files
In DeltaWalker you can open a file for comparison in one of several ways:
• Type a file path; auto-suggest and auto-complete will be there to File Selector assist you • Click the Open button to bring up Select File dialog
• Click the Arrow button to select from history (dropdown) list*
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+O
Drag a file from the file-system browser and drop it onto one of the file Drag and Drop selectors or text editors
Any one of these ways will allow you to select either a local or a remote file. Remote files are identified by a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) and are typically located on a remote server accessible via one of the protocols supported by DeltaWalker—FTP, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and WebDAV. In a sense, accessing a local file, or a file located on a mapped network drive, is a special case of accessing a remote file. The URI specified in the file selector text entry has to be properly constructed, i.e. it has to have proper URI syntax. The Remote File Dialog can help you construct a valid URI more easily by allowing you to specify the different components of the URI and by putting them together for you in the end. Either way, the end-result is a string that DeltaWalker will use to locate and load the file of interest. A new history item is added to history when at least one file has been successfully opened for comparison. When opening files using either the Local or the Remote Select File dialog you can specify the character encoding and the line delimiter you want this file to be opened with. Compressed files i.e. files containing other files in one of the supported compression formats—ZIP, JAR, EAR, TAR, GZIP and BZIP2—are opened and their contents visualized and compared. By definition compressed files contain hierarchical data, therefore DeltaWalker displays them as folders. Selecting folders for comparison is similar, with two exceptions: • There is no character encoding or line delimiter to be selected for folders. They are not offered as part of the Remote Select Folder dialog. • Not all protocols, e.g. HTTP and HTTPS, are suitable for accessing remote folders. They are not offered as part of the Remote Select Folder dialog. Saving files
File Selector Click Save button to bring up Save File dialog
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+S
The discussion on opening local and remote files and folders applies to saving them as well. It's worth noting that protocols like HTTP and HTTPS in their standard form, while suitable for opening files are not suitable for saving files. Therefore they are excluded from the Remote Save File dialog. WebDav, a powerful HTTP(S)-based standard, is a notable exception in that it allows creating, updating, and deleting files. The Save As Locally and Save As Remotely command allows you to save a file in a location independent of the location you opened it from. For instance you can open a local file and save it on a remote server and vice versa. In between, DeltaWalker allows you to visualize, compare, edit, and merge such files hiding all location details from you. Supported compressed files are currently opened as read-only. If you try to close a file comparison window with modified editors, DeltaWalker will display the Save Modified Files dialog and offer you the choice of saving the changes or not. Similarly, if you try to close the application window DeltaWalker will present you the choice of saving or discarding all editors with unsaved changes. When saving files using the Save File dialog you can specify the character encoding and the line delimiter you want this file to be saved with.
Editing Text Files
Working with two or three way file comparison often involves editing and merging.
Editing—key bindings
One way to quickly get a sense of DeltaWalker's editing capabilities is to look at its key bindings (Ctrl+Shift+L):
Find/replace
The DeltaWalker Find/Replace dialog (Ctrl+F) is no ordinary one. In addition to what you'd expect to see in such a dialog, you'd find the Incremental find and the Regular expressions options. • The incremental find option, when turned on, will scroll to view and highlight the first word that matches the characters you are typing. • The Regular expressions option, when selected, turns your search for characters or words into a power, regular-expressions-based search. In addition Context assist is there to help you with regular expression constructs. For further details, see the Find/Replace dialog topic.
Incremental find
Should you feel that the Find/Replace dialog gets in the way, try DeltaWalker's incremental find capability. Hit Ctrl+J, or Ctrl+Shift+J for reverse incremental find, and start typing—the editor will scroll to view and highlight the first word that matches the characters you've typed. To exit incremental find mode, hit Escape. To go to the next occurrence of the string you are looking for use Ctrl+K, or Ctrl+Shift+K to go to the previous. Undo/redo
A linked undo/redo underpins the DeltaWalker text editors. Linked here means that as you make changes to the editors' contents, the undo/redo mechanism keeps track of these changes not just within an editor, but across the editors within a file comparison window. During an undo, DeltaWalker undoes these changes in the reverse order to the one they were made, including changes spanning multiple editors. This guarantees that all changes you've made will be undone, or redone, in the right sequence.
Personalizing the text editors
Power is only as useful as it fits the way you work and in that respect no two users are exactly the same. Acknowledging this fact, DeltaWalker presents a careful selection of default text editor options, and offers you the ability to customize many of them.
Personalizing the key bindings
The default key bindings of DeltaWalker are the result of a careful consideration of the most popular respective key bindings in similar products across the supported platforms. For users with different work style DeltaWalker offers the Keys preference page where one can change any of the key bindings to better fit their preferences. As with all preferences, these selections are saved between program invocations and will be available next time you launch DeltaWalker.
Manual Text File Merging
Merging—manual or automatic—is at the heart of any file comparison and folder synchronization tool. At the heart of DeltaWalker's manual text merging capabilities are the fly-by merge arrows.
Merge arrows
When DeltaWalker visualizes text files with differences it draws colored rectangles around the blocks of text that have been deleted, added, that match but have differences, or that, in the case of three-way comparison, match but have conflicting differences. Reconciling files containing such differences usually involves: • Replacing a difference in one file with a difference from another. • Inserting a difference from one file at certain place into the other. • Deleting a difference. And this, as supported by the screenshot below, is exactly the role of the fly-by merge arrows in DeltaWalker.
The merge arrows appear only when the cursor is over a difference, i.e. over a block of text marked as a difference, doing their part to keep DeltaWalker's UI clutter-free. If you move the cursor over the little blue icon and keep it there for a moment a toolitp will appear, as illustrated above. Pressing Ctrl, or Ctrl+Shift, will draw a small '+' or '-' sign inside the arrow to ensure that the effect of the pending operation is clear. In three-way comparison, DeltaWalker offers automatic reconciliation of non-conflicting differences. The combination of manual and automatic merging are two of the tools in DeltaWalker that will help you reconcile with confidence and ease even large and heavily modified files.
Using the Birds-Eye View
The birds-eye view is located on the right-hand side of a comparison window, immediately next to the scrollbar. Similarly to the QuickDiffs, the birds-eye view tells an interesting story. Using small rectangles, a.k.a. markers, the birds-eye view renders a scaled-down visual map of all differences. Each marker communicates the following information about its corresponding difference(s): • type - deletion, addition, difference, and conflicting difference (three-way comparison only) • size • distribution • selection, if any For instance, the birds-eye view depicted on the image to the left represents a comparison with: • 1 large block of added text • 3 different-size blocks of deleted text • 2 related blocks of text containing differences It also shows the location of these differences as well as the currently selected difference—the first inline difference i.e. the first green marker. Clicking on a birds-view marker scrolls the text editors to the location of the actual difference and selects it. With large files, containing tens of hundreds of differences, a single marker often represents more than one difference. Clicking on such a marker scrolls the editors to the first of these differences and selects it.
Printing a Comparison
You can preview and print the contents of a file or a folder comparison window using the Print Preview and the Print commands. The print preview renders a very close approximation, a.k.a. WYSIWYG, of what the actual printed result is going to be. It is possible that there are minor differences in color and in quality between the copy printed by your printer and the print preview image you see on your screen. These can be due to a number of factors: • Differences in the color calibration of your printer and/or your monitor. Many monitors and printers come with software that you can use to calibrate them. • Unexpected, or poor, conversion from the difference colors used by DeltaWalker to the grayscale levels of your printer, when printing on black and white printers. Should this be the case, try changing/upgrading your printer driver. If that doesn't help, try choosing colors in DeltaWalker that print better with your setup. Use the options—margins, headers & footers to name but a few—on the Page Setup dialog to personalize the printed output. Used in tandem, the Print Preview and the Page Setup windows allow you to instantly visualize the changes you make to your print settings and to choose the ones that fit you best.
Understanding QuickDiffs
Using colors, QuickDiffs tell the story behind the changes you have made, or are in the process of making, to the contents of a text editor. The colors indicate additions, deletions, and inline changes to the editor's content, compared to the content at the time of loading the file, or compared to a blank document if you started with a blank document. For QuickDiffs DeltaWalker uses the same colors, carrying the same meaning, as the colors for additions, deletions, and inline changes. Let's walk through an example that illustrates most of the possible combinations the QuickDiffs can depict.
Here is what this partial screenshot of a second text editor has to say: 1. Lines #15 and #16 have been added in the second editor, relative to the first, before the files were even loaded for comparison. The first QuickDiff—the green background of #15—indicates that somewhere on line #15 a change was made after the file was loaded. Indeed the string IByteSequence replaced the string ByteBuffer. 2. The short, horizontal orange line between lines #17 - #18 tells us that one or more lines were deleted on that spot. The fact that the line doesn't span the entire width of the editor, as does the line b/n lines #21 and #22, tells us that whatever lines were deleted in the second editor, they were deleted in the first editor as well. 3. The third QuickDiff—the blue background of #19—suggests that the entire line was added, after the file was loaded. 4. The next QuickDiff—the short, horizontal orange line between lines #21 - #22—that one or more lines were deleted at that location. In contrast to QuickDiff #2 however, the thin, horizontal orange line that runs across the entire editor indicates that the deleted lines were deleted only in the second editor. 5. The last QuickDiff—the green background of #23—says that one or more changes were made on this line. Indeed, to the right of it, we see several characters with darker green and blue background, either or all of which could be the changes in question. Hovering over the actual QuickDiff (the background of #23) displays a tooltip containing the original text. With the help of the tooltip we can conclude that the actual change that triggered the QuickDiff is the 'name' part of the word pathname. Saving a file with QuickDiffs does not clear the QuickDiffs information. The goal behind this is to keep all information for changes made to a file after it was opened available for as long as the file stays open in DeltaWalker. Closing and opening a file containing QuickDiffs resets the QuickDiffs information.
Choosing a Character Encoding
Definitions
A codepage or a character set is a collection of characters. Historically, characters from different languages were divided into different character sets, because computers were able to "address" only a limited number of characters at a time. Thus codepages were defined to support specific languages or groups of languages with similar writing systems. For instance, codepage 1251 contains characters used in both Bulgarian and Russian alphabets. Legacy character encodings use the Single-Byte Character Sets (SBCS) or the Multi-Byte Character Sets (MBCS), also known as Double-Byte Character Sets (DBCS). ) SBCS contains 256 character codes, while DBCS are a mixture of single-byte and double-byte characters and can represent up to 65,536 characters. Modern character encodings such as Unicode use 16-bit character codes to represent most of the characters used throughout the world. Each Unicode index refers unambiguously to a given character. Compared to SBCS, Unicode allows for addressing a considerably larger range of characters. Compared to MBCS, Unicode offers a simplified model for working with text.
Selecting a Character Encoding
Inherently Unicode-based, DeltaWalker has a built-in functionality for detecting the character encoding of a given text file. Unicode encodings are typically easy to detect, thanks to a two-byte leading identifier, while SBCS don't lend themselves well for auto-detection. If a character encoding is detected incorrectly many, or all, characters would appear garbled, or unreadable. In case DeltaWalker is unable to correctly detect the character encoding of a file, you can easily select it from one of several places: • The Select File dialog, just before opening the file.
• The Set Encoding dialog, after the file has been opened for comparison. • The Save File dialog, in case you want to change the character encoding of a file just before saving it. As illustrated on these screenshots, DeltaWalker allows you to select a charset encoding either by the language corresponding to that charset, or by the charset name itself. One or more languages can use a single encoding, or there could be an encoding without a corresponding language. Therefore when switching from Languages to Charsets DeltaWalker will always map the current language to its corresponding charset, but not the other way around. The Editing preference page allows you to select the default encoding—language, or character set—for new text files created in DeltaWalker. Unless you overwrite the default encoding in say, the Set Encoding dialog, a new file will be saved on disk with the default encoding.
Understanding the Text Comparison Summary
You can see the summary of a particular file comparison in two places: • The Text Comparison Summary dialog represents the numbers of text blocks that are same, deleted, added, and different in the second file relative to the first. Additionally, in three-way comparison, the comparison summary shows the number of conflicting differences. • The three status bar comparison summary panels (four in three-way comparison) in the right- hand-side of status bar. The '-' and '+' icons drawn in the first two panels, aided by the consistent use of colors, and the tooltips, reinforce and communicate the difference types.
Understanding the XML Comparison Summary
You can see the summary of a particular XML file comparison in two places: • The XML Comparison Summary dialog represents the numbers of text blocks that are same, different, added, and deleted in the second file relative to the first. Additionally, in three-way comparison, the comparison summary shows the number of conflicting differences. • The three status bar comparison summary panels (four in three-way comparison) in the right- hand-side of status bar. The '-' and '+' icons drawn in the first two panels, aided by the consistent use of colors, and the tooltips, reinforce and communicate the difference types. As the screenshot below illustrates hovering with the mouse over a summary panel displays a tooltip with more readable presentation of the panel's information.
Performing Three-Way Comparison
Three-way comparison is the automated difference analysis between two modified files with respect to a mutually common file, often referred to as their ancestor. This type of comparison often, but not always, involves the use of a revision control system which hosts such an ancestor. The differences and the patters appearing in the changes among the two files and the ancestor are examined and a relationship model is built to enable the merging of the two files with their origin into a new revision of the ancestor. The need for a three-way file comparison is frequently present in collaborative projects where more than one contributor applies modifications to a local copy of one and the same file at a given point in time. Three-way comparison evaluates to more than two standalone two-way comparisons between each of the modified files and their common ancestor as it reflects the level of convergence between the two derivative works and their ancestor. A conflicting change is a case in point—it exists only in the context of a three-way comparison, when a block of text has been changed differently in both derivative works.
Opening a three-way comparison window
• Open a new two-way file comparison and change the comparison window layout to the desired 3- way comparison layout—three-way vertical, three-way horizontal, or three-way ancestor on top— then load the files. Remember, the ancestor file is always the one in the middle. • If there is an open three-way folder comparison, a double-click on a triplet of files will open these files in a three-way file comparison. • If there is one or more history items that were recorded for files participating in three-way comparisons, hold down the Ctrl key and select any of these history items.. A somewhat simplified three-way text file comparison containing one of each possible relationships— deletions, additions, non-conflicting, and conflicting changes—is shown on the following screenshot:
Putting the comparison to work
The experience with two-way comparison in browsing differences, editing the files being compared and merging them with standard commands easily carries over to three-way comparison. Though three-way comparison introduces a new participant in the analysis—the ancestor file—it's usually sufficient to base editing and merging decisions on examination of the differences in two out of the three files at the time.
File layout in three-way comparison
DeltaWalker understands the importance of the ancestor file as a common reference for the other two file versions and provides three different intuitive layouts emphasizing its role: • Horizontal and vertical layouts put the ancestor in the center of the visual editor in order to clearly express the meaning of the ancestor file as a reference point for the modified versions on its sides. • The vertical layout with ancestor on top elevates the role of the ancestor in cases where it's perceived as a new, thus more important, revision of a publicly-visible, common document.
Differences in agreement
In a well-planned collaborative software development, more frequently than not, two works sharing a common origin have most of their differences with respect to that origin in separate, unrelated blocks of text. Frequent artifacts of such scenarios are additions and deletions, relative to the ancestor, present only in one of the files, while the respective blocks from the other file remain unchanged. In these cases, apply your skills from working with two-way comparisons to either accept the modifications in the ancestor or to reject them. It is not uncommon for the authors of the derivative works to make the same change in their locally modified versions. Since the changes are in agreement, two-way comparison and editing techniques are, again, directly applicable as well.
Conflicting differences
DeltaWalker accurately detects different modifications to the same blocks of original text and brings them to your attention for analysis and resolution. These differences require a manual resolution; by default the areas containing them are outlined in red. To keep your work flowing even in these infrequent cases, DeltaWalker features state-of-the-art text editors which provide you with ample editing power and merging flexibility.
Automatic Text File Merging
In DeltaWalker, the term automatic text file merging is meaningful only in the context of a three-way comparison and operates only on non-conflicting differences. While a powerful tool, the concept behind it is simple: walk through all differences b/n the ancestor and the first file, and between the ancestor and the second file and merge, one-by-one all differences that do not represent conflicts. A conflicting difference here refers to a block of text, present in all three files, that has been modified in more than one file e.g. in the first and in the second file. At the end of the automatic merge, if there were conflicting differences, they are left as is, and marked accordingly i.e. they are surrounded by red-colored rectangles. As with other DeltaWalker colors, the conflicting color can be customized. The following example, with before and after screenshots, illustrates the concept:
This image shows: • One deleted block of text—the block beginning with "I love deadlines..." in end of the ancestor file. It's been deleted in the first and and in the second file. • One added block of text—the block beginning with "Beauty is an ecstasy;..." in the first file . • One pair of different blocks of text—the block beginning with "The truth is..." in the ancestor and in second and files. • One triplet of conflicting blocks of text—the block beginning with "One should..." in all three files. Here are the same three files after performing an automatic-merge of non-conflicting differences:
The auto-merge engine made two changes to the ancestor file: • Copied the block of text beginning with "Beauty is an ecstasy;..." from the first to the ancestor file. • Copied the word "seldom" from the text block starting with "The truth is..." from the second file over the word "rarely" in the matching text block in the ancestor file. Notice the QuickDiffs in the ancestor editor—the blue background of line numbers 1 and 2 and the green background of line number 10. These QuickDiffs communicate the exact nature of the changes just performed—addition and inline change, respectively. The conflicting lines were left intact as proper resolution of such conflicts usually depends on the context and is best done by the person(s) with knowledge of that context. DeltaWalker's undo-redo mechanism tracks any changes made to the editors, including changes made by the auto-merge engine. This sets you free of worries as to the exact final result of the auto-merge and lets you experiment with it, combine auto-merge with manual conflict resolution, or perform any other combination of operations you find appropriate. Creating a Patch for a Pair of Files
A patch is a text file that contains the differences between one or more pairs of different files. A number of open source programs, including UNIX diff, Subversion, and CVS, as well as commercial applications, including DeltaWalker, are capable of producing patches. The process of updating a file with the differences from a patch file is known as applying a patch or patching. While patches originated in the programming world and are particularly suitable for updating source files to newer versions, they have been successfully applied to any text files. Use the following options to control the patch creation process:
Patch • Edit Script—historically, the first output format suitable for automatically Format transforming one file into another; today, it is almost obsolete. An edit script represents commands that direct ed, the standard UNIX text editor, to change the first file into the second. It lacks context and does not provide the information necessary to apply the patch in reverse, i.e. to transform the second file into the first using the patch. • Normal—shows each block of differences with no surrounding context, which is sometimes the clearest way to see how the lines have changed. Because the Context and Unified formats can produce similar outputs with zero lines of context and because they are otherwise superior, this format is no longer widely used; DeltaWalker provides it mostly for compatibility reasons. • Context—in this format different lines are shown in context i.e. together with unchanged lines before and after. This makes the patch file more human readable and allows a patch to be applied to a file even when modifications have been made to it since the patch was created. Its characteristics make it the standard format for distributing updates to source code. • Unified—inherits most of the characteristics of the Context format, except that it is typically shorter because it omits redundant context lines and the produced output is more human readable.
# lines of Use this spin edit control to specify the number of context lines i.e. the lines before and after context a difference. This option is available only for the Context and the Unified patch formats. The default value is three, however it can be set to any number, including zero. For a context or a unified patch to be applied reliably, a min number of three is recommended.
Use this combo box to set the character encoding of the patch file. Most always the Encoding character encodings of the first and the second files will be the same; in rare the case they are different you will most likely need to select the same encoding as the one used by the destination file.
Delimiter Use this combo box to choose the line delimiter of the patch file. As with character encoding, if you need to explicitly select a line delimiter here, it should likely be the same as the delimiter of the destination file.
Creating a patch is an operation meaningful only in the context of two files and their relationship with each other, i.e. in two-way comparison; therefore the command is unavailable in three-way comparison. Appearance
Access
Menu File > Create Patch...
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, T
Creating a File Comparison Report
For a particular file comparison you have the choice of creating an HTML or/and an XML report. Generally more popular, HTML reports can be opened and visualized in your browser of choice without the need of additional transformations. A file comparison report is a hi-fidelity representation of the file comparison it was generated from and it includes the most important preferences that are currently in effect and were used by the file comparison. As such, generated reports are well suited for electronic exchange e.g. email, for storing for later reference, and for using as snapshots to document the history of changes of a particular pair or triplet of files. A comparison report reflects whether the comparison it was generated for is a two-way or a three-way one. Please note that three-way comparison, including three-way comparison report generation, is available only in DeltaWalker Oro edition.
Access
Menu File > Create Report > HTML... File > Create Report > XML...
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, R, H Alt+F, R, X Comparing Folders
Comparing Folders
Comparing folders involves: • Showing the folder comparison window • Selecting the folders to compare • Starting the comparison • Making sense of the comparison results
To show the folder comparison window
Menu File > Compare Folders
Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+D
To select the folders to compare
Folder Selector: • Type file path; auto-suggest and auto-complete available • Click button to bring up Select File dialog • Select from history (dropdown list)
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+O (when folder comparison window has the input focus)
Drag a file from the file-system browser and drop it onto one of the path Drag and Drop entry/browse widgets or onto one of the tree areas.
Folder comparison, particularly of thousands and tens of thousands of files, is not instantaneous the way file comparison is. Therefore DeltaWalker leaves it to you to initiate the actual comparison when you are satisfied with your choice of folders. To start a folder comparison
Menu File > Compare
Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut F5
Depending on the selected folders' content folder comparison can be a lengthy process. DeltaWalker offers several forms of feedback while a comparison is in progress: • A throbber - the little animated graphic in the left corner of a comparison window's tab. A throbber allows DeltaWalker to provide sufficient indication when more than one folder comparison is in progress. • The values in the size columns change as those folders are being compared. • The top-level folders changes their color from dimmed to full color as soon as they determined to be different. • "Comparing folders..." message in the status line. Additionally, one can always cancel a comparison in progress by clicking on the Stop button in the main toolbar, located to the right of the "Compare" button.
To navigate the differences
Navigating folder comparison differences is identical to navigating file comparison differences:
Menu File > Navigate > Next/Previous Difference
Toolbar button /
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow / Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow
Mouse Ctrl+Mouse Wheel
The mini difference navigation buttons / at the bottom of the common Other scrollbar
The results are presented in a way consistent with the file and xml comparison so understanding the folder comparison is equally straightforward. Comparing Selected Files
DeltaWalker folder and file comparison integration makes it easy to get both the entire picture as well as the specifics of a particular comparison. The ability to open folder comparison and file comparison windows side-by-side contributes the most in achieving this task. This empowers you to analyze the folder comparison results and launch file comparisons for files of interest to you —typically these would be different files present in both folders. It's hard to overstate the importance of this from usability perspective —using the powerful file-system browser metaphor, you get to see both the forest and the trees. There is no need to switch windows nor to scroll tabs back and forth—it's all there, all in context.
To select files for comparison
There are many ways you can select one of more pairs or triplets of files for comparison: • Click on a file to select a single pair/triplet of files • Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the files of interest to select multiple file pairs/triplets. • Use the folder comparison context sensitive menu or local menu to select all pairs/triplets of files of a given type, i.e. all added, deleted, or different. Use the Invert Selection menu item to deselect the currently selected files and select all others. Note that only files are selected using the "Select..." menu items.
To compare the selected files
Once you've selected the files you want to open file comparisons for, click on the Compare Selected menu or toolbar item.
Folder comparison Compare Selected local menu
Folder comparison toolbar button
Folder comparison Compare Selected context menu
It's not uncommon, particularly when using one of the "Select..." actions described above, to instruct DeltaWalker to open too many files for comparison. Opening file comparison windows is a system resource consuming operations. To minimize the risk of overloading your system DeltaWalker limits the number of file comparison windows that can launched through the Compare Selected action to a predefined, but customizable number—20 by default.
Understanding the Folder Comparison Summary
You can see the summary of a particular file comparison in two places: • The Folder Comparison Summary dialog represents the number of same, deleted, added, and different files in the second folder hierarchy relative to the first. Additionally, in three-way comparison, the comparison summary shows the number of files with conflicting differences. Also presented are the total number and the total size of files, as well as the number of folders, in each folder. • The three status bar comparison summary panels (four in three-way comparison) in the right- hand-side of status bar. The '-' and '+' icons drawn in the first two panels, aided by the consistent use of colors, and the tooltips, reinforce and communicate the difference types.
Performing Three-Way Folder Comparison
Three-way folder comparison is conceptually very similar to three-way file comparison. The same colors are used to denote the same kinds of differences. Of course, here the units of comparison are folders and files, as opposed to blocks of text. Three-way folder comparison is the automated difference analysis between two, presumably modified, folders hierarchies with respect to a third one, often referred to as their ancestor, or their origin. The need for a three-way file comparison often arises in collaborative projects where the same branches of files are worked on by more than one contributor at a given point in time. Three-way folder comparison evaluates to more than two standalone two-way comparisons between each of the modified branches and their common ancestor in that it reflects the level of convergence between the the two derivative works and their ancestor. A conflicting change is a case in point—it exists only in the context of a three-way comparison, when a block of text has been changed differently in both derivative works. To open a three-way folder comparison
• Open a new two-way file comparison and change the comparison window layout to the desired 3- way comparison layout—three-way vertical, three-way horizontal, or three-way ancestor on top— then select the folders and hit Compare. As with three-way file comparison, the ancestor file is always in the middle. • If there is one or more history items that were recorded for folders participating in three-way comparisons, hold down the Ctrl key and select one of these history items.. A simplified three-way folder comparison containing one of each possible relationships—deleted files, added files, files with non-conflicting changes, and files with conflicting changes—is shown on the following screenshot:
This image depicts: • One triplet of files with conflicting differences —the "Different file with conflicts.txt" file in each of the compared folders. • One triplet of files with non-conflicting differences—the "Different file.txt" file in each of the compared folders. • Two added files—the "First-only file.txt" in the first and "First-only file.txt" in the second folder. • One deleted file—the "Ancestor-only file.txt" present only in the ancestor folder. Three-way comparison goes hand in hand with automatic synchronizing of non-conflicting differences— advanced functionality, governed by simple rules, for automatic merging of changes from the first and second folder hierarchies into their common ancestor.
Two-Way Folder Synchronization
You can synchronize two folders using: • Automatic, predefined high-level synchronization operations e.g. Update and Mirror. • Finer-level synchronization operations e.g. Copy, Move, and Delete.
One-Click Synchronization
The following one-click folder synchronization operations are available: • Update First - newer and orphan files from Second are copied to First. • Update Second - newer and orphan files from First are copied to Second. • Update Both - newer and orphan files are copied from each side to the other. • Mirror to First - First folder is made identical to Second. • Mirror to Second - Second folder is made identical to First. To perform one of the above sync operations select it from the dropdown menu then take a look at the info panel to ensure that the number of files and the involved sub-operations are what you expect them to be and finally click on the Sync button.
Synchronization using Copy/Move/Delete
Any desired synchronization result can be achieved using two or three basic operations—Copy, Move and Delete. Here are the steps involved in synchronizing two folder hierarchies with DeltaWalker, specifically making the second hierarchy the same as the first: • Select the folders of interest in the first and second folder selectors and hit the "Compare" button on the main toolbar. • If there are files present only in the first folder they'd be reported as deleted and the little orange rectangle with a minus sign on the status bar would show their count. Those files need to be copied from the first to the second folder. To do that, right-click and choose "Select Deleted". Right-click on one of the selected items in the first hierarchy then click on "Copy Selected from First to Second". • Next copy the different files, if there are any: right-click and choose "Select Different" then copy the selection from first to second as in the previous step. • Finally, if there are files present only in the second folder, you'd probably want to delete them. To do that, first do "Select Added" then right-click in the second folder hierarchy and choose "Delete Selected" or hit the Del key. The thing to ensure when copying files is that the files that are being overwritten don't contain valuable changes. It is not uncommon that two folder hierarchies have been changed independently and both branches contain valuable changes. The safest approach is to analyze carefully the different files and, if necessary, manually merge them. Comparing and merging different files with DeltaWalker is easy—just double-click on them from your folder comparison window and they'll open for comparison.. DeltaWalker presents you with everything you need to make informed and confident merge and synchronization decisions; it also offers the tools to carry out these decisions with the least amount of effort.
If you can't move, copy or delete a file or folder on Mac OS X
If DeltaWalker reports an error when moving, copying or deleting an item—a file or a folder—on Mac OS X, you can do one of two things: • Change the item's permissions settings. You may also need to change permissions settings for the disk, server, or folder where you want to copy or move the item. To check your permissions for an item: o Right-click on the item in DeltaWalker and select 'Show in Finder' o In Finder, select the item and choose File > Get Info. o Make sure the item isn't locked i.e. the Locked checkbox must be unchecked. o Click the triangle next to Sharing & Permissions to expand the section. o Open the pop-up menu next to your user name to see the permission settings. You may need to click the lock icon and type your password. o For the item you want to move or copy, choose Read Only or Read & Write. For the location where you want to place the item, choose Read & Write or Write Only. • Run DeltaWalker as root/administrator by typing the following in a terminal window: sudo /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker Here, as in the first case, you want to make sure that the item isn't locked.
If you are logged in as administrator for your computer or you know the user name and password of an administrator, you may be able to change permissions for an item. If you don't have the permissions you want contact the administrator of your computer or the owner of the file or folder.
Creating a Patch for Multiple File Pairs
Invoking the "Create Patch..." command when a folder comparison window is active will create a single patch file containing the patches for all pairs of different files, including added and deleted files, in that folder and all of its subfolders. For details on patch creation for single pair of files, see "Creating a Patch for a Single File Pair". Use caution when executing this command as invoking it for large folders containing many pairs of different files may take a while.
Access
Menu File > Create Patch...
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, T
Creating a Folder Comparison Report
Folder comparison HTML or/and XML reports share many of the traits of file comparison reports. They: • Can be in HTML or XML format. • Include the most important preference settings used for the actual folder comparison. • Are great for sharing, storing, and tracking the change history of a particular folder pair/triplet. • Can be two-way and three-way (Oro edition only) depending on the folder comparison they represent. Folder comparison reports however offer more in that they truthfully represent the source folder comparison and they contain links to the individual file comparison reports of the files that are a part of the folder comparison. Use caution when generating folder comparison reports as invoking it for large folder hierarchies containing many pairs of different files may take a while.
Access
Menu File > Create Report > HTML... File > Create Report > XML...
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, R, H Alt+F, R,
Working with Sessions
Overview
DeltaWalker sessions offer you a quick way of going back to a recent file or folder comparison. Thus a comparison session holds all the information required to run that comparison the same way you ran it last time - it holds the pathnames/URIs of the compared files and folders, including usernames and passwords, as well as any properties that you might have modified during that session. Comparison sessions share many similarities with browser sessions - both are created automatically as you use the program, both refer to URIs or pathnames and a bunch of settings, and both are easily accessible. Use the Edit > Preferences... dialog pages to set the way you want DeltaWalker to operate on a global, application level. Use the session properties (File > Comparison Properties...) to adjust the way you want a file or a folder comparison to run and visualize its results. Comparison properties are a subset of the global application preferences that are specific to either a file or a folder comparison. Session properties are overlaid, or applied over, their respective global counterparts. Overlaying preferences is a powerful concept that allows for customization of specific preferences at a session-level, while letting changes to global preferences propagate and affect sessions where they have not been modified. Let's look at an example: Say you launched DeltaWalker and you opened a pair of files for comparison. You then decided that you want to turn off the display of character-level differences. One easy way to do that is to click on the dropdown arrow next to the Properties toolbar button and unselect "Show Inline Differences". If the files you are comparison have inline differences you would immediately see the desired effect of the change. What you just did was you modified the session-specific preferences for the file comparison you are currently working on. The change is specific to the comparison you are working on and would automatically be saved as part of that session so next time you load it, it will be there. This is not a global- preference change however, which means that if you open a new file comparison it would have "Show Inline Differences" turned on, as this is the global default value for that preference (assuming of course you have not modified that preference already at a global-level). If, on the other hand, you went and you modified the global "Show Inline Differences" preference the new value will be used in all subsequent new file comparisons. Not only that, but thanks to the overlay approach, this preference will be in effect even when opening previously saved sessions, so long you haven't modified it in those sessions. If you have modified it, the session-level preference change would take precedence over the global-level changes.
The arrow controls located in the upper-right of the right pane allow you to navigate through previously viewed pages. To return to a page after viewing several pages, click the drop-down arrow to display a list of your recently viewed preference pages. Saving and Loading
Saving
When you create a new comparison, that comparison's properties are initialized with values from the global preferences. As soon as you trigger a comparison, e.g. hit the Compare button on the main toolbar, the information identifying that comparison is automatically saved. It's saved under a name composed by the names of the files or folders involved in the comparison.
Loading
You can load a comparison in one of two ways:
• By clicking on the dropdown arrow of the file or the folder comparison toolbar buttons and selecting from the comparison history window:
• By going to File > File Comparison or File > Folder Comparison and selecting from the list of available comparisons.
Properties
Comparison properties represent the settings used for a particular comparison. There are two types of preferences in DeltaWalker - global, application-level preferences and session- specific preferences. The global preferences serve as default values for session preferences at the time a new comparison is created. To change global preferences use the preference pages accessible from Edit > Preferences.... Session properties are accessible via several different ways - File > Comparison Properties..., a comparison's context menu, and selected few are exposed via the main and the local toolbars. Comparison properties are a subset of the global application preferences that are specific to either a file or a folder comparison. Session properties are overlaid, or applied over, their respective global counterparts. Overlaid preferences is a powerful concept that allows for customization of specific preferences at a session-level, while letting changes to global preferences propagate and affect sessions where they have not been modified. Let's look at an example: Say you launched DeltaWalker and you opened a pair of files for comparison. You then decided that you want to turn off the display of character-level differences - you clicked on the dropdown arrow next to the Properties toolbar button and unselected "Show Inline Differences". If the files you're comparing have inline differences you would immediately see the effect of the change. What you just did was you modified the session-specific preferences for the file comparison you are currently working on. The change is specific to the comparison you are working on and would automatically be saved as part of that session so next time you load it, it will be there. This is not a global- preference change however, which means that if you open a new file comparison it would have "Show Inline Differences" turned on, as this is the default value for that preference. If, on the other hand, you went and you modified the global "Show Inline Differences" preference the new value will be used in all subsequent new file comparisons. Not only that, but thanks to the overlay approach, this preference will be in effect even when opening previously saved sessions, so long it hasn't been changed it in those sessions. If it has been changed, the session-level preference change would take precedence over the global-level change.
Personalizing DeltaWalker
Overview
DeltaWalker is attuned to the way you work: • By offering you a great deal of freedom in customizing its user interface—main window, file and folder comparison windows, toolbars, etc.—simply by using your mouse. DeltaWalker remembers the changes you make so that next time you launch it, it appears exactly the way it was before you closed it. • Through its preference pages it offers you a wealth of options to choose from—from ways to control the speed, the accuracy, and the output of the differencing algorithm, to general applications options like fonts and colors, appearance, and shortcut keys. • By separating preferences into global and session-specific. Use the Edit > Preferences... dialog pages to set the way you want DeltaWalker to operate on a global, application level. Use the session properties to adjust the way you want a specific file or folder comparison to run and visualize its results. Session properties are accessible via several ways: File > Comparison Properties..., a comparison's context menu, and selected few are exposed via the main and the local toolbars. You can browse the Preferences dialog pages by looking through all the titles in the left pane or search a smaller set of titles by using the filter field at the top of the left pane. The results returned by the filter will match both Preference page titles and keywords such as "font" and "comparison". However, to find specific functions you may have to search the online help instead.
The arrow controls located in the upper-right of the right pane allow you to navigate through previously viewed pages. To return to a page after viewing several pages, click the drop-down arrow to display a list of your recently viewed preference pages.
Preferences
All Comparisons Preference Page
Use the All Comparisons preference page to change the following preferences common to both file and folder comparison:
Preference Description Default Optimize for Allows you to selects b/n two differencing algorithms - one Optimize speed/Optimize for optimized for speed and one optimized for accuracy. The for speed accuracy difference in accuracy b/n these algorithms is often none, or minimal.
Ignore differences in Selecting this option instructs DeltaWalker to ignore Off whitespace whitespace—spaces and tabs—when comparing files.
Ignore differences in Turn this option on when you want differences in line On line delimiters (CR and delimiters—Windows (CR LF), UNIX (LF), and Mac OS 9 (CR)— LF) to be ignored during file comparison.
Ignore differences in Select this preference to have DeltaWalker ignore the care of Off character case characters when comparing files.
File and folder Use this option to set the desired size of the file and folder 16 comparison history comparison history of most recently compared files. size
Synchronize vertical Check this option to have the file and folder comparison content On scrolling areas—text editors and trees—move together when scrolled vertically.
Use common scrollbar On Select this option to have a single common scrollbar for the text in vertical comparison editors in 2 and 3-way vertical file comparison. Available only when Synchronize vertical scrolling is on.
Synchronize horizontal Check this option to have the file and folder comparison content On scrolling areas—text editors and trees—move together when scrolled horizontally.
Follow symbolic links Off When checked DeltaWalker works with the file or folder a symbolic link points to. When unchecked it works with the contents of the symbolic link itself. As of DeltaWalker 1.8.6 the functionality represented by this preference is available only on Mac OS X.
Appearance color Click this link to go to the Colors and Fonts preference page. options Appearance
File Comparison Preference Page
The following preferences can be changed on the File Comparison page:
Preference Description Default
Show inline differences Select this option to make DeltaWalker display detailed On differences - added, deleted, and different characters - within blocks of text when visualizing the results of a file comparison.
Show pseudo conflicts Choose this option when you want pseudo conflicts to appear in On 3-way comparison. A pseudo conflict occurs when both first and second files have the same difference relative to their common ancestor. A real-world example for pseudo conflict is when two developers make the exact same change e.g. they both add or remove the same line of code in their respective files.
Connect ranges with single Turn this option on when you want to have the differing ranges On line visually connected by a single line; turn it off for a flexible, arrow- like connection.
Appearance color options Click this link to go to the Colors and Fonts preference page.
Appearance
File Comparison - Editing Preference Page
Use the File Comparison > Editing page to customize certain aspects of the way files are edited in DeltaWalker. Other, text-editor-specific, options are available in can be changed on the File Comparison > Editing > Text Editors page.
Option Description Default
Allow editing Check this option to enable editing of read-only files inside the On read-only files text editors. Prior to saving, you will still be prompted to confirm the overwrite of a read-only file. When unchecked the text editors displaying read-only files will not be editable.
Notify when files On Select this option to get notified when a file currently opened are modified on for comparison in DeltaWalker has been modified on the disk disk by other applications. You will be able to reload such files. Note: Reloading externally modified files that have been changed inside DeltaWalker will result in a loss of those changes.
Notify when files On When selected DeltaWalker will notify you when a file are deleted or currently opened for comparison has been externally deleted moved on disk or moved.
New text file Select the "default" language, or the character set, for new English/ISO-8859- character set text files created in DeltaWalker. Unless you explicitly change 1 the character encoding you select here, this will be the encoding the new file will be saved with.
New text file line Select the "default" line delimiter for new text files created in Windows (on delimiter DeltaWalker. The default value of this option is system Windows); dependent - Windows for the Windows OS, and Unix for Linux Unix (on Mac OS X and Mac OS X. and Linux)
Insert line Off Check this option if you want DeltaWalker to insert line delimiters delimiters at the specified column when loading Microsoft Office documents e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint. This prevents long paragraphs from flowing beyond the editor's width and makes for an easier comparison. Use with caution as it's both CPU and memory intensive. Appearance
File Comparison - Text Editors Preference Page
The following preferences can be changed on the File Comparison > Editing > Text Editors page.
Preference Description Default
Undo history size This option is not applicable to DeltaWalker as it features unlimited- size, linked undo/redo.
Displayed tab width Use this option to set the text editors' tab width measured in space 4 characters. If a tab is represented by a tab character - see Insert spaces for tabs below - the number of spaces specified here will affect only the display with of a tab. If, however, a tab is represented by spaces, this will be the number of actual spaces.
Insert spaces for tabs Check this option to have every new tab inserted in the text editor Off substituted with the number of spaces specified in Displayed tab width above. This applies for tabs inserted by pressing the Tab key Preference Description Default
and tabs inserted by pasting text with tabs. Existing tabs are not affected.
Highlight current line Check this option when you want the text editors to highlight the line Off where the insertion point is.
Show print margin Turn on this option to make the print margin visible. Off
Print margin column Use this option to set the print margin column position. 80
Show line numbers Check this this option to have line numbers shown on the left side of On the text editors.
Show range indicator On This option controls whether or not range indicators are shown in the text editor.
Show whitespace Off Choose this option to make all whitespace characters - spaces, tabs, characters carriage returns and line feeds - visible.
Enable drag and drop Select this option to enable drag and drop of text inside the text On of text editors.
Warn before editing a This option controls whether to warn if a derived file is going to be On derived file edited.
Smart caret positioning When this option is turned on the editor will automatically position the On at line start and end caret and the start or end of a line.
Show affordance in This option controls whether to show an affordance in the hover on On hover on how to make how to make it sticky. it sticky
Appearance color Follow this link to customize colors and fonts applicable to text options editors. Appearance
File Comparison - Hyperlinking Preference Page
Use the File Comparison > Editing > Text Editors > Hyperlinking page to enable or disable on demand hyperlink-style navigation. The descriptive labels make the options on this page self-explanatory.
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File Comparison - Accessibility Preference Page
Use the File Comparison > Editing > Text Editors > Accessibility page to customize the following preferences:
Preference Description Default
Use custom caret Check this option when you want to select a custom caret e.g. a On thick caret. Use thick caret Selecting this option makes the caret, i.e. insertion point, in the On text editors twice thicker, thus more easily noticeable.
Use characters to show Turn this option on to have the QuickDiffs use the characters '+', Off changes in vertical ruler '-' and '~' in addition to colors to denote the type of change that is being made to the text.
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File Comparison - Filters Preference Page
Use the File Comparison Filters preference page to configure regular expressions-based filters that DeltaWalker will use when performing file comparison. Folder comparison based on file content - see the Folder Comparison preference page - will also use the filters you've setup here. Filters enable ignoring text that is out of the scope of interest of the reviewer and thus increase the usefulness of the analysis performed and offered by DeltaWalker. They achieve this by narrowing the gap between the overly-technical representation of the text maintained by computers and the underlying meaning of the text expressed by humans. A common real-world scenario in which filters are of great value is when text formatting is of no importance. Though guidelines, conventions, and standards used within a project or an organization are designed to keep such differences to a minimum, crossing the aforementioned boundaries is often a source of hindrances. Using filters, unimportant text formatting is easily taken out of the picture. Software developers will find filters indispensable for keeping code comments out when comparing source files.
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Filters at a glance
DeltaWalker makes it easy to define a large set of filters and to use them as suitable for a specific comparison task. Filters are expressed through the de facto standard syntax of regular expressions and are given human-readable descriptions to lift off the burden of the mathematical notation and preserve the focus on the actual comparison review. Selective reuse of previously-defined filters is encouraged and aided by check boxes that control the inclusion or exclusion of specific filters during the actual comparison. Filters offer a fine-grained control over what text to ignore during comparison—from entire lines of text to specific character sequences. Filters by example Blank lines vs. sequences of "blank" characters
Consider the following regular expression that matches lines either with no characters or containing only spaces and tab characters (often referred to as blanks):
^[ \t]*$ A filter configured to search with this pattern and to report same any lines where it finds matching parts will make the comparison ignore such lines. The result—differences comprised only of such matching lines will be discarded. In contrast, a filter built on the same expression and defined to ignore the respective character sequences will keep a matching line and its meaning as a base for a difference but will let it correspond to another line, which may be non-blank in its raw form but which evaluates to a blank line after filtering.
Folder Comparison Preference Page
Turn to the Folder Comparison page to customize the following preferences:
Preference Description Default
Compare file content Select this option to compare files in the context of folder On only (most comparison using the same differencing algorithm as the file comprehensive) comparison itself. Produces the most accurate and comprehensive results.
Compare file content Choose this option to make DeltaWalker use its text differencing Off when timestamps algorithm only when the timestamps and/or the sizes of the files and/or sizes are being compared are different. While potentially faster, such different comparison can report files with different content as same if their timestamps and sizes are the same.
Compare file Off With this option selected DeltaWalker will use only the files' timestamps timestamps as comparison criterion. This is a very fast, but not a very accurate way of comparing files.
Compare file sizes Off With this option on DeltaWalker will use only the files' sizes as comparison criterion. Very fast, but not very accurate.
Compare file Off Choosing this option will have DeltaWalker use the files' timestamps timestamps and sizes and sizes as comparison criteria. Very fast, but not very accurate.
Compare byte-by-byte Performing content comparison of large binary files using the built-in files larger than ... 512 KB text comparison algorithm can use a large amount of memory and take a long time to complete. Use this option to perform byte-by-byte comparison for files larger than the specified size—typically such comparison is faster and uses less memory. Since text comparison filters and options e.g. ignore whitespace, ignore case, etc. do not apply to byte-by-byte comparison, the Diffs column in the folder comparison window will show 0 when byte-by-byte compared files are the same and 1 when they are different.
Ignore timestamp Off / This option can help you ignore artificial time differences imposed by differences of less 2.000 some file systems. For instance, FAT32 sets the time to the than... seconds specified time rounded up to the nearest even second. As a result, files and folders copied or moved to such file systems may be reported as different when compared by their timestamps. Other times, network latency can cause copy or move operations to create resources with timestamps different from the original.
Don't expand nodes for On / Expanding thousands of nodes is time consuming and can present comparisons with more 50000 an overwhelming amount of information. Turn on this option to see than ... items the big picture first—nodes containing differences are shown in full color, while identical nodes have dimmed icons and grayed labels. That way you can more easily focus on areas of interest and selectively expand branches.
Show Date Modified Off When checked, the Date Modified columns in the folder comparison window are visible; hidden when unchecked.
Show Size On When checked, the Size columns in the folder comparison window are visible; hidden when unchecked.
Open up to ... file Enable this option to control the number of file comparison windows On / 20 comparison windows that can be opened via the Compare Selected command available at a time on the folder comparison local toolbar and menu. This protects you from accidentally locking the UI by opening too many files at once. Appearance
Folder Comparison - Content Types Preference Page
Use this preference page to specify the content type of files for the purposes of folder comparison. Files identified as binary will be compared using byte-by-byte comparison regardless of their size. Byte-by-byte comparison is typically faster and uses less memory. In contrast, comparing the content of large binary files using the built-in text comparison algorithm can lead to memory exhaustion and/or take a long time to complete. This is particularly important when generating linked folder comparison reports. This preference page allows you to add new, edit or remove existing content types. You can restore the factory-default content type assignments by clicking on the 'Restore Defaults' button. Appearance
Folder Comparison - Filters Preference Page
Similarly to file comparisons, folder comparisons use filters that select the files and folders to be included or excluded in the difference analysis. Appearance
Filters at a glance
A folder comparison filter is an ordered collection of rules i.e. regular and/or shell expressions that are configured to match the names of files and/or folders and to either include the matching file-system resources into the comparison or exclude them from the field of interest of the analysis. To keep working with filters simple, each filter is given a human-readable name and only one filter is being used in a given comparison. Power of expression is not sacrificed though because a single filter utilizes multiple rules and, just like file comparison, check boxes enable selective inclusion or exclusion of rules during the actual comparison.
Regular expressions
With regular expressions being the Swiss-army knife of string matching and the experience gathered through file-comparison filters, it only makes sense to give the same control even when selecting files and/or folders for comparison based on their name. No matter how fancy the inclusion or exclusion criteria are, regular expressions will do the job.
Shell expressions
And since folder comparison filters pick in or out files and folders, DeltaWalker makes it easy to express the selection intentions using the simplest and the most common of file-system name matching techniques - shell expressions. The characters ? and * along with any character being accepted by the underlying file system as a part of a file or folder name can quickly give a rule of choice. Single arbitrary characters will be matched by the shell-expression character ? and zero or more characters will be covered by the shell-expression character *.
Filters by example Include all files and folders
Rule Target Action Effect
Files & Matches all files and folders and marks them for inclusion in the actual * Include Folders comparison
Include known source file types in a given development tree but leave out certain object and binary files and folders that are the product of compilation
Rule Target Action Effect
Looks recursively in the * Folders Include development tree
...not taking into account the bin Folders Exclude contents of binary output folders
...and marks well-known source *.c;*.cpp;*.cs;*.h;*.java;*.rc Files Include files to be included into the actual comparison
...while at the same time not analyzing well-known object and *.cab;*.dll;*.exe;*.idb;*.map;*.ncb;*.o;*.obj;*.pch Files Exclude binary files that are the product of a compilation process General Preference Page
The following general DeltaWalker preferences can be changed on the General preference page.
Preference Description Default
Turn this option on to perform long running operations in the Always run in background N/A background without blocking you from doing other work.
If this option is turned on then the editor and view cycle dialogs Keep next/previous part will remain open when their activation key is let go. Normally the Off dialog open dialog closes as soon as the key combination is release.
Turn this option on to display an indicator showing information Show Heap Status Off about current Java heap usage.
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General - Appearance Preference Page
You can change the following preferences on the General > Appearance preferences page.
Preference Description Default
Current presentation Specify the currently active presentation (look and feel). Default (current)
Override presentation Locally override the settings from the current presentation's Disabled settings defaults.
Editor tab positions Specify either top or bottom to indicate where you want Top tabs for stacked editors to appear.
View tab positions Specify either top or bottom to indicate where you want Top tabs for stacked views to appear.
Perspective switcher Specify the location of the perspective switcher bar. Top right positions
Current theme Specify the currently active theme (color and font set). Default (current)
Show text on perspective Specify whether labels should be shown in the perspective Enabled bar bar as well as icons.
Show traditional style tabs Specify whether traditional (square) tabs should be used in Disabled place of the curved tabs.
Enable animations Enable/disable the feature where views animate to their Enabled location when closed or opened. Appearance
Colors and Fonts Preference Page
Many of the fonts and the colors used by DeltaWalker can be customized using the General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts preference page. The tree in the middle of the page shows the various customizable colors and fonts. The current face (but not size) of any font is previewed in its label. Colors are previewed in the icon associated with its label. For some categories e.g. View and Editor Folders there is a more detailed preview shown below the description area. DeltaWalker generally uses the fonts and colors provided by the operating system, however those can be easily customized. To change a font select it then click Change to bring up the font selection dialog, or click Use System Font to choose the operating system font. Reset sets all values to their defaults.
The Colors and Fonts text field can be used to filter the contents. Simply type in an entry and any matching results will remain in the tree view. Descriptions and previews, if available, are displayed when a color or a font is selected.
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General - Keys Preference Page
The available keyboard shortcuts, or key bindings, in DeltaWalker depend on several factors including the active view or editor, whether there is an open dialog, product edition e.g. Standard vs. Oro, and what operating and windowing system is being used. At any time, you can obtain a list of available key bindings by going to Help > Key Assist... or by using the Ctrl+Shift+L shortcut. With the help of the Keys preference page you customize the key bindings DeltaWalker ships with. Do do that, select the command whose binding you want to change then click in the "Binding" field and enter the shortcut key of your choice. The new key binding will be in effect immediately and will continue to be available in subsequent application sessions.
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General - Help Preference Page On the Help preference page, you can indicate how to display help information. Preference Description Default
If embedded web browser is supported on your system, help Use external window uses an embedded help browser to display help contents, Off browsers whenever possible, and this option is available. Select it, to force help to use external browsers.
Open window This option allows you to determine whether the window context in a dynamic context help help will be opened in a dynamic help view or in an infopop. help view
This option allows you to determine whether the dialog context help Open dialog will be opened in a dynamic help section of help view or in an in dialog tray context help infopop.
Help view This option allows you to determine whether the documents document open selected in the help view will be opened in place or in the editor Open in place mode area.
Determines whether potential hits should be shown while searching. Show all Search Showing potential hits will increase search performance, at the cost potential hits of potential loss of accuracy. (faster) Appearance
Note: Selection performed on this page can affect how the help view is presented. If the selected browser is not fully compatible with Internet Explorer or Mozilla, or has JavaScript disabled, the help view shown in the browser might be a simplified version.
Rearranging Windows
The two types of windows that occupy the DeltaWalker application window—views and editors—are different in subtle, yet important ways. You can adapt DeltaWalker's application window layout in a way that best suits your way of work and your preferences. You can rearrange the layout of DeltaWalker windows as follows: • Drag the Folder Comparison window to different positions within the application window—beside, above, or below the file comparison window space. You can also detach the folder comparison window so that it floats outside the application window. • Drag a file comparison window so that it is simultaneously visible beside, above, or below another file comparison window. • Resize file and folder comparison windows by dragging the sashes which separate them. Drop Cursors
Drop cursors indicate where a view or an editor will dock when you release your mouse button. This indication is relative to the view or editor area underneath the cursor.
Cursor Name Description
Dock above The view or editor will appear above the one underneath the cursor.
Dock below The view or editor will appear below the one underneath the cursor.
Dock to the The view or editor will appear to the right of the one underneath the cursor. right
Dock to the The view will appear to the left of the view underneath the cursor. left
The view will appear as a tab in the same pane as the view underneath the Stack cursor.
If the mouse button is released when a restricted cursor is displayed, the view Restricted will not dock there. For example, a view cannot be docked in the editor area.
Positioning the Folder Comparison Window
The position of the Folder Comparison view can be changed in any of the following ways: 1. Click in the title bar of the Folder Comparison view and drag the view across the main window. Do not release the mouse button yet. 2. While still dragging the view around on top of the application window, note that various drop cursors appear. These drop cursors indicate where the view will dock in relation to the view or editor area underneath the cursor when the mouse button is released. Notice also that a rectangular highlight is drawn that provides additional feedback on where the view will dock. 3. Dock the view in any position in the application window, and view the results of this action. 4. Click and drag the view's title bar to re-dock the view in another position in the application window. Observe the results of this action. 5. Click and drag the view's title bar outside the DeltaWalker application window. Notice that it becomes a "Detached" window (hosted in its own shell). Tiling File Comparison Windows
DeltaWalker allows for the creation of two or more sets of File Comparison editors in the editor area. The editor area can also be resized but views, e.g. the Folder Comparison view, cannot be dragged into the editor area. 1. Open at least two File Comparison editors. 2. Click and drag one of the editor's tabs out of the editor area. Do not release the mouse button. 3. Notice that the restricted cursor displays if an attempt is made to drop the editor outside the application window. 4. Still holding down the mouse button, drag the editor over the editor area and move the cursor along all four edges as well as in the middle of the editor area, on top of another open editor. Notice that along the edges of the editor area the directional arrow drop cursors appear, and in the middle of the editor area the stack drop cursor appears. 5. Dock the editor on a directional arrow drop cursor so that two editors appear in the editor area. 6. Notice that each editor can also be resized as well as the entire editor area to accommodate the editors and views as necessary. 7. It is important to observe the color of an editor tab (in the figure below there are two groups, one above the other) blue - indicates that the editor is currently active default (gray on Windows XP) - indicates that the editor was the last active editor. 8. Drag and dock the editor somewhere else in the editor area, noting the behavior that results from docking on each kind of drop cursor. Continue to experiment with docking and resizing editors and views until the application window has been arranged to satisfaction. The figure below illustrates the layout if one editor is dragged and dropped below another.
Integrating DeltaWalker with Other Applications
Integrating with Configuration Management, Source Control and Other Applications
Integrating DeltaWalker with Configuration Management (CM), Source Control (SC) and other applications is achieved by driving DeltaWalker via command line arguments. In general, when given one, two, or three file or folder paths as command line parameters DeltaWalker detects their type and count and opens them accordingly. Here is a list of applications DeltaWalker has been tested with:
Git
Mac OS X
Adding the following to Git's global configuration file ~/.gitconfig will instruct Git to use DeltaWalker as its external diff and merge tool:
[diff] external = /usr/local/bin/git-diff-dw.sh [merge] tool = deltawalker [mergetool "deltawalker"] cmd = /usr/local/bin/git-merge-dw.sh "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" "$BASE" "$MERGED"
Create two shell script files:
• git-diff-dw.sh • git-merge-dw.sh These files change the order of the parameters supplied by git to the diff and the merge commands, respectively, to the order expected by DeltaWalker. In the above example, the files are expected to be in /usr/local/bin/; if you place them elsewhere, make sure their location is updated in the ~/.gitconfig. The files should have the following content: git-diff-dw.sh: #!/bin/sh /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker -nosplash "$2" "$PWD/$5" git-merge-dw.sh: #!/bin/sh /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker -nosplash "$PWD/$1" "$2" "$3" -merged="$4"
To have each pair/triplet of files sent to DeltaWalker for comparison appear in a new tabbed window, as opposed to in a new application instance, make sure that the preference DeltaWalker > Preferences > File Comparison > Editing > "Notify me when files are deleted or moved on disk" is unchecked. Note that opening files for comparison in tabbed windows is significantly faster than opening them in separate DW instances.
Mercurial
Mac OS X
Add the following to Mercurial's configuration file ~/.hgrc to instruct Mercurial to use DeltaWalker as its external diff and merge tool:
[extensions] hgext.extdiff = [extdiff] cmd.deltawalker = [merge-tools] deltawalker.executable = /usr/local/bin/hg-merge-dw.sh deltawalker.args = $local $other $base $output
Create the shell script hg-merge-dw.sh and place it in /usr/local/bin/; if you place them elsewhere, make sure its location is updated in the ~/.hgrc.: hg-merge-dw.sh: #!/bin/sh /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker -nosplash "$1" "$2" "$3" -merge="$4"
Subversion
Version Control with Subversion provides the definitive guide to Subversion and its Using External Differencing Tools section gives a detailed explanation on the topic of integration with external diff tools. The easiest way to configure the Subversion command-line tool (svn) to use DeltaWalker is to modify the Subversion configuration file: ~/.subversion\config (Mac OS X) or %APPDATA%\Subversion\config (Windows). Uncomment out, or add if missing, the lines shown below and set their values accordingly e.g.: Mac OS X diff-cmd = /usr/local/bin/svn-diff-dw.sh diff3-cmd = /usr/local/bin/svn-diff3-dw.sh
Windows diff-cmd = "C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\svn-diff-dw.bat" diff3-cmd = "C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\svn-diff3-dw.bat"
Create the above-referenced wrapper scripts: Mac OS X svn-diff-dw.sh: #!/bin/sh /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker -nosplash "$PWD/$6" "$PWD/$7" svn-diff3-dw.sh: #!/bin/sh /Applications/DeltaWalker.app/Contents/MacOS/DeltaWalker -nosplash "$PWD/$9" "$PWD/$11" "$PWD/$10"
Windows svn-diff-dw.bat: @echo off "C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\DeltaWalker.exe" -nosplash %6 %7 svn-diff3-dw.bat: @echo off shift shift "C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\DeltaWalker.exe" -nosplash %7 %9 %8
As a result subsequent calls to svn diff and svn diff3 commands will launch DeltaWalker. Note however that DW does not return a different exit code when a three-way comparison detects a conflict. Subversion checks that return code in order to determine whether it should launch a different tool to handle the three-way merge.
StarTeam
Go to Tools > Personal Options... In the Options dialog select the File tab then locate the Alternate Applications button near the bottom left corner. In the Alternate Applications dialog check the Comparison Utility checkbox, if not checked, then either type the path to the DeltaWalker executable or use the browse (...) button to bring up the Select File dialog select it. In the Options text field immediately below supply the following options: -nosplash $file1 $file2
Concurrent Versions System, Windows Client (WinCVS)
Open the WinCVS preferences—in ver. 2.0.2 go to Admin > Preferences... then select the WinCVS tab. In the Programs group box, check the External diff option, then either type the path to the DeltaWalker executable or use the browse button to bring up the Select File dialog and navigate to it. If you have installed DeltaWalker using the MSI installer accepting all defaults, the path to DeltaWalker.exe should be: C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\DeltaWalker.exe
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Macromedia Dreamweaver supports external file comparison tools and documents the integration steps in its help—just type "diff tool" in the help search field and the associated topic should come up. In a nutshell, these are the steps: Mac OS X • Open the Preferences dialog box by selecting Dreamweaver > Preferences, then select the File Compare category. • Using the required syntax manually enter the full path to the DeltaWalker executable located inside the DeltaWalker application bundle e.g.: Macintosh HD:Applications:DeltaWalker.app:Contents:MacOS:DeltaWalker Windows • Open the Preferences dialog box by selecting Edit > Preferences, then select the File Compare category. • Click the Browse button, navigate to the DeltaWalker installation folder, then select the DeltaWalker executable e.g.: C:\Program Files\Deltopia\DeltaWalker 1.8\DeltaWalker.exe
Command Line Parameters
The general way of running the DeltaWalker executable is: DeltaWalker [parameters] [-vmargs [Java VM arguments]] Parameter Description
Forces DeltaWalker to start a new instance rather than connect to a running instance, -mi if such exists.
One or two file or folder pathnames/URIs specified on the command line instructs file or DeltaWalker to open them for two-way file or folder comparison, respectively. Three folder pathnames/URIs will be opened for three-way folder comparison, where the third pathname/URI pathname will be opened as the common ancestor. If more than three pathnames are specified only the last three are used.
The location of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to use to run DeltaWalker. If not -vm path specified, the product will attempt to find a JRE. It will first look for a directory called jre as a sibling of the DeltaWalker executable, and then look on the operating system path. Relative paths are interpreted relative to the directory that DeltaWalker is started from.
When passed to DeltaWalker, this option is used to customize the operation of the -vmargs [Java Java VM used to run DeltaWalker. If specified, this parameter must come at the end VM arguments] of the command line. The given arguments are dependent on VM that is being run.
Appendices
Appendix 1 - Dialogs
About Dialog
The DeltaWalker About dialog is the place to go to when you need to confirm the type of your license, your license key, and other license-related information such as your name, your company name and email address. The following controls can come handy when you, or to a Deltopia support engineer, are trying to troubleshoot a problem:
Control Description
Copy to Clipboard Copies the all license and product registration information to the clipboard.
Brings up a dialog listing all the product features i.e. groups of Feature Details components, which make up your DeltaWalker installation.
Displays a dialog listing all the plug-ins i.e. components that are a part of Plug-in Details your DeltaWalker installation.
Shows details—hardware and software—about your system, as well as Configuration Details details about your DeltaWalker configuration. Gives easy access to the DeltaWalker log file. Appearance
Access
Menu Help > About Deltopia DeltaWalker
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+H, A
Confirm Multiple File Delete Dialog
When you attempt to delete one or more files or folders participating in a folder comparison DeltaWalker will ask you to confirm your intentions using the Confirm Multiple File Delete dialog.
Control Description
Select All Selects all files and folders shown in the dialog's tree control.
Deselect All Deselects all files and folders shown in the dialog's tree control. Proceeds with the deletion of the selected files and folders. Delete Note: On Microsoft Windows and on Mac OS X DeltaWalker 1.0 will move the deleted items to the Recycle Bin and Trash respectively; on Linux, it will permanently delete them.
Don't Delete Cancels the delete operation and dismisses the dialog.
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This particular screenshot depicts a selection of four items in the Second folder hierarchy—one folder and three of its files. This is the default behavior and it reflects the fact that these items were selected in the Second folder tree prior to triggering the deletion. By default the corresponding items in the First folder hierarchy are presented, but not selected, as this may not be your intention.
Configuration Details Dialog
Use this dialog to obtain information about your operation system and your DeltaWalker installation, including the Java Platform that DeltaWalker is using. Appearance
This information is useful when you want to learn more about your environment and essential when troubleshooting a problem or reporting a bug.
Find/Replace Dialog
Use this dialog to find and replace specific text in a text comparison window.
Find Text 1. In the Find field, enter the text that you want to search for. 2. Select any other options that you want. 3. Click Find button to find the next/previous occurrence of the text.
Replace Text
Follow the same steps as when searching for text, except that you need to specify the replacement text into the Replace With field.
Control Description
Select Forward when you want to find the next occurrence of the text; Forward/Backward select Backward to find the previous. Select All to search the entire file or Selected Lines to search only the All/Selected Lines currently selected text, if any.
Case Sensitive Check this option to make your text search case-sensitive.
Whole Word Selecting this option will result in a search for entire words only.
Select this option if you want to perform the search using regular expressions. Click in the Find or in the Replace With field then press Ctrl+Space to get Content Assist for inserting regular expression Regular Expressions constructs. When the cursor is placed in a dialog field that is supported by Content Assist, a small light-bulb above the upper-left corner of the field indicates its availability.
Appearance
Access
Menu Edit > Find/Replace...
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+F Folder Comparison Summary Dialog
Use this dialog to see a summary of the folder comparison results. The first table presents the same information as the status bar panels do—the numbers of files and/or folders that are same, different, added, deleted, and—in the case of three-way folder comparison— conflicting. The second table presents the number of files and folders and the files' total size processed in each folder hierarchy during the folder comparison run. This information is not presented by the status bar comparison panels.
Control Description
Copies the comparison summary table and its contents to the Clipboard in Copy both CSV (Comma Separated Value) and HTML formats.
Brings up the Page Setup dialog so that you can adjust the page print Page Setup parameters before printing.
Print Brings up the Print dialog. Use this button to print the comparison summary.
Brings up the Save File dialog. Click this button to save the summary in Save As either CSV or HTML format.
OK Closes the dialog. Appearance
Access
Menu File > Comparison Summary
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, S
Go to Line Dialog
Use the Go to Line dialog to position the caret at the desired line number in the file comparison text editors.
Appearance
Access
Menu Navigate > Go to Line...
Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+L
Select File Dialog
For the purposes of opening files, and in an effort to leverage your familiarity with it, DeltaWalker uses the OS-native Select File dialog on each supported platform. Across the different operating systems the File dialogs are similar in functionality, yet different in appearance and layout. While those dialogs need no introduction, here are a few words about the extensions DeltaWalker makes to them:
Character Encoding
By default, DeltaWalker tries to determine the character encoding of a file, however certain types of encoding are difficult or practically impossible to detect. Many times you know what the character encoding of a file you are about to compare is and the Select File dialog is just the place where you can pass this information on to DeltaWalker. Other places in DeltaWalker where you can change the character encoding of a file are the Set Encoding dialog and the Save File dialog.
Character Encoding Chooser
Line Delimiters
Besides character encoding, at the time of opening a file, DeltaWalker allows you to specify the line delimiters to open the file with. By default a file's line delimiters are left as is, however if you need to change them, this is one place to do that. Other places are the File > Convert Line Delimiters To and the Save File dialog.
Line Delimiter Chooser
Should you require assistance with the Select File dialog, please consult your operating system help.
Access
Click the button to bring up Select File dialog
Ctrl+O (when a file or a folder comparison window has the Keyboard Shortcut input focus)
Drag a file from the file-system browser and drop it onto one Drag and Drop of the path entry/browse widgets or onto one of the content areas.
Select Remote File Dialog
The Remote File Dialog may help you construct a valid Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) more easily by allowing you to specify separately the different components of a URI and by putting them together for you. The resulting string, the URI, is what DeltaWalker will use to locate and load the file of interest. This string has to conform to the URI specification. Similarly to the Select Local File dialog, the Remote File dialog allows you to specify the character encoding and the line delimiter at the time of opening or saving a file. Appearance
Access
Click the small down-pointing arrow to the right of button, then choose "Select Remote File" menu to bring up Select Remote File dialog
Ctrl+O (when a file or a folder comparison window has the input focus) Keyboard Shortcut brings up either the Select Local or Select Remote File Dialog depending on which one was invoked last.
Page Setup Dialog—Margins and Orientation
The margins and orientation section of the Page Setup dialog is where you specify the margins and the orientation of a page before printing. Any changes you make to the margins' size, to their units of measurement, and to the page orientation of are instantly previewed in the preview area. You can control the size of each margin individually. Note: The option to change the page orientation is offered here purely for preview purposes—the setting you choose will not be carried to the printer prior to printing. To change the default page orientation, go to File > Print or look for the Printer Properties dialog. Keep in mind that the Print dialog varies somewhat across platforms; the Printer Properties dialog varies between printers and across platforms.
Appearance
Page Setup Dialog—Headers and Footers
Use the Headers and Footers section of the Page Setup dialog to control the content and the appearance of your headers and footers. Here, you can also turn on or off the printing and print-previewing of both headers and footers.
Layouts
The headers will appear at the top of each printed page prior to the actual contents and footers will appear at the bottom of each printed page after the actual contents. In the horizontal direction, there are three choices of positions and alignments for the headers and footers: • Left-aligned on the left-hand side of each printed page • Right-aligned on the right-hand side • Centered. Literals
Use the text entries for the respective alignments and positions to specify arbitrary text to be displayed as headers and footers.
Pre-defined values
Because common conventions and consistency enable increased productivity, DeltaWalker allows selecting the most widely-used headers and footers from a drop-down menu invoked by clicking on the arrow next to the text entries for the respective alignments and positions. The following table lists these pre-defined values and describes what will actually get printed for them:
Value Description
1st File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being displayed and edited name in the First role
2nd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being displayed and edited name in the Second role
3rd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being displayed and edited name in the Ancestor role in three-way comparison
1st File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being displayed and name and path edited in the First role
2nd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being displayed and name and path edited in the Second role
3rd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being displayed and name and path edited in the Ancestor role in three-way comparison
Date/Time The date and time current at the beginning of the printing (or print-previewing)
Page # The consecutive number of the page the header or footer in questions appears on
The consecutive number of the page the header or footer in question appears on and Page # of # the total number of pages in the print job
Advanced tags
Because the pre-defined values can only be used by themselves and cannot be used to construct arbitrary headers and footers, DeltaWalker associates the pre-defined values listed above with tags that can be used as parts of arbitrary text values for headers and footers. The advanced tags will be replaced in the provided text with their values according to the table given bellow:
Tag Value Description
1st The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being
2nd The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being
3rd The actual name of the file or folder without its parent path being
1st File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being
2nd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being
3rd File/Folder The actual name of the file or folder including its parent path being
The date and time current at the beginning of the printing (or print-
The consecutive number of the page the header or footer in
Print Preview Dialog
The print preview renders a very close approximation, a.k.a. WYSIWYG, of what the actual printed result is going to be. It is possible that there are minor differences in color and in quality between the copy printed by your printer and the print preview image you see on your screen. To learn more about such differences and of ways to minimize the, see the topic Printing a Comparison. Appearance
Access
File > Print Preview Menu
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, N
Product Unlock Dialog
Upon your first launch of DeltaWalker after installation this dialog will prompt you to provide the license key—trial or permanent—that you've received from Deltopia, together with optional information that will be used to personalize your DeltaWalker copy. Copy the license key from the email you've received from Deltopia and paste it into the License key field. Alternatively, you can type the license key, however keep in mind that this is a rather error-prone method. As soon a valid license key is entered, the banner text of this dialog will acknowledge this fact and the OK button will become enabled. At this point you may personalize your copy of DeltaWalker by filling in the remaining, optional fields. With or without entering personal information, clicking the OK button will launch DeltaWalker for a first time. Appearance
Save File Dialog
The Save File dialog is identical in appearance, layout, and functionality to the Open File dialog, with one notable difference—it's about saving files. Therefore the description of the Open File dialog's extensions for choosing a character encoding and a line delimiter is applicable, in its entirety, to the Save File dialog. It's worth noting that the Save File dialog is the last place in DeltaWalker where you can specify the character encoding and the line delimiter of a file before the file is saved on the disk. If you require assistance with the Save File dialog, please consult your operating system help.
Access
File/Folder Selector Click button to bring up Save As File dialog (for new documents only)
Menu File > Save As
Ctrl+S (only for new documents and only when a file or a folder Keyboard Shortcut comparison window has the input focus)
Drag a file from the file-system browser and drop it onto one of the path Drag and Drop entry/browse widgets or onto one of the content areas.
Save Modified Files Dialog
DeltaWalker displays the Save Modified Files dialog in one of the following two circumstances: • You are attempting to close a file comparison window with one or more of its text editors being modified. • You are attempting to close the application window and there is one or more comparison windows, which in turn have one or more modified text editors. In this case all modified files will be displayed in a single Save Modified Files dialog. In either case, this dialog gives you the opportunity to choose which files to save and which ones to close without saving.
Control Description
Select All Selects all files listed in this dialog.
Deselect All Deselects all files listed in this dialog.
Saves all selected files, dismisses the dialog and closes either the file Save comparison window or the application window, depending on where the dialog was invoked from.
Saves no files, dismisses the dialog and closes either the file comparison Don't Save window or the application window.
Cancel Dismisses the dialog and takes no further action. Appearance
Set Date Modified Dialog
Use the Set Date Modified dialog to set the date and time when the selected files/folders were last modified.
Control Description
Pressing OK when this option is active will set the date and time of the Copy Date Modified selected files and/or folders in the destination tree, i.e. the tree where the right from Source to click was made, to the date and time of the files and/or folders from the source Destination tree.
Selected files and/or folders in the destination tree will receive the last used Set Date Modified to date and time. If timestamps came from multiple files, then the timestamp of last Date Modified the last file is used.
Set Date Modified to The date and time of the selected files and/or folders in the destination tree current date and time will be set to the date and time as specified by the calendar control below. Appearance
Access
Context Menu (Folder Comparison Set Date Modified... Window)
Set Encoding Dialog
Use the Set Encoding dialog to select the character encoding—language or character set—for a given text editor. An asterisk (*) in front of a language or a charset indicates that this is the current language or charset of the text editor the dialog operates on. DeltaWalker allows you to select a character encoding either by the name of the character set, or by the name of the language corresponding to that charset. One or more languages can use the same charset, or there could be a charset without a corresponding language. Therefore when switching from Languages to Character sets DeltaWalker will always map the current language to its corresponding charset, but not the other way around.
Control Description
OK Makes the selected language or charset, if any, the current language or charset for the text editor the dialog operates on and closes the dialog.
Cancel Dismisses the dialog without taking any action.
Makes the selected language or charset, if any, the current language or Apply charset for the text editor the dialog operates on. Use Apply to quickly try out different languages or charsets without closing the dialog.
Appearance
Access
Menu File > Set Encoding...
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, E
Context Menu (Text Set Encoding... Editor) Add/Edit Rule Dialog
Use this dialog to add or edit a rule belonging to the currently active filter. A rule is a regular or a shell expression that matches the names of files and/or folders and either includes the matching file-system resources into the comparison it is applied to or excludes them from the field of interest of the analysis.
Control Description
Select this option if you want to base the rule on a regular expression. Otherwise, the Regular rule will be treated as a shell expression thus matching any character in file and/or folder expression names for each '?' character in the rule and accepting any sequence of character in file and/or folder names for each '*' character in the rule.
Enter the expression of the rule in accord with your selection of Regular expressions i.e. either a regular or a shell expression. Use the '?' character in the rule to match any Rule character in file and/or folder names and the '*' character in the rule to accept any sequence of characters in file and/or folder names.
When not basing the rule on Regular expressions, have convenient access to pre- Choose... defined well-known shell expressions which can be combined into complex shell expressions simply by clicking the mouse buttons.
Target Select which file-system resources the rule will apply to - files, folders, or both
Choose either to include or exclude the matching files and/or folders from the Action comparison.
Appearance
Text Comparison Summary Dialog
Bring up this dialog to see a summary of the folder comparison results. Part of the information—the number of text blocks—is identical with the information presents the status bar comparison summary panels; the other part—the number of lines—is specific to this dialog. The summary for two-way comparisons includes the numbers of blocks and lines of text that are same, different, added, and deleted between the first and the second file (text editor). In the case of three-way folder comparison each of these numbers represents the sum of the respective numbers of the first & ancestor and the second & ancestor pairs. Additionally, the number of blocks and lines of text containing conflicting differences is shown as well.
Control Description
Copies the comparison summary table and its contents to the Clipboard in Copy both CSV (Comma Separated Value) and HTML formats.
Brings up the Page Setup dialog so that you can adjust the page print Page Setup parameters before printing.
Print Brings up the Print dialog. Use this button to print the comparison summary.
Brings up the Save File dialog. Click this button to save the summary in Save As either CSV or HTML format.
OK Closes the dialog. Appearance
Access
Menu File > Comparison Summary
Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, S
Upgrade License Dialog
Use this dialog to upgrade your copy of DeltaWalker in one of the following two scenarios: • You are using a Trial version and you've purchased a permanent Standard or Oro Edition license key. • You are using a Standard Edition and you've purchased an Oro Edition license key. In either of these cases the Help > Upgrade License menu item is present and allows you to enter your new license key. Simply paste your license key and, if necessary, change your personal information. If you are upgrading from a Trial version all new functionality will be available to you as soon as you hit the OK button. If you are upgrading from a Standard to an Oro edition you need to restart DeltaWalker to ensure that all new functionality is available. Appearance
Access
Menu Help > Upgrade License
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+H, L
XML Comparison Summary Dialog
Bring up this dialog to see a summary of the XML structure comparison results. The Comparison Summary dialog is context-sensitive; that is its content reflects the content of the comparison window it applies to. DeltaWalker gives XML file comparison a special treatment by show the files and the comparison results in both Text and Structure view. Naturally, when the Comparison Summary dialog is invoked when the XML Structure view has the input focus it displays comparison summary specific the XML comparison. The summary for two-way comparisons includes the numbers of XML elements, attributes, and character data that are same, different, added, and deleted between the first and the second file. In the case of three-way folder comparison each of these numbers represents the sum of the respective numbers of the first & ancestor and the second & ancestor pairs. Additionally, the number of elements, attributes, and character data containing conflicting differences is shown as well.
Control Description
Copy Copies the comparison summary table and its contents to the Clipboard in both CSV (Comma Separated Value) and HTML formats.
Brings up the Page Setup dialog so that you can adjust the page print Page Setup parameters before printing.
Print Brings up the Print dialog. Use this button to print the comparison summary.
Brings up the Save File dialog. Click this button to save the summary in Save As either CSV or HTML format.
OK Closes the dialog.
Appearance
Access
Menu File > Comparison Summary Toolbar button
Keyboard Shortcut Alt+F, S
Appendix 2 - Legal Notices
The material in this guide is Copyright (c) Deltopia Inc. 2009.
DeltaWalker, Deltopia, domain (deltopia.com), logos and site content are trademarks of Deltopia Inc.
Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States or other countries, or both.
The Eclipse Platform is an offering from the Eclipse Project Open Source Community which is under copyright of IBM and others.
All other logos, terms or trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Appendix 3 - Support and Contact Information
Email is the best way to contact us and www.deltopia.com is the best resource for Deltopia software. The most up-to-date version of this help is also available at www.deltopia.com. For product related questions, ideas, feature requests, or bug reports, please email [email protected]. For sales and licensing related questions, please use [email protected].
Appendix 4 - Deltopia DeltaWalker End-User License Agreement (EULA)
DEFINITIONS "You" means the person or the legal entity who is being licensed to use the SOFTWARE. "We," "Us" and "Our" means Deltopia Inc. "SOFTWARE" means the DeltaWalker software product, which includes computer software and electronic documentation and may include printed materials and other accompanying media, as well as any updates to the original SOFTWARE that We have provided to You. LICENSE GRANT The SOFTWARE is licensed, not sold. The SOFTWARE is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as by other intellectual property laws and treaties. By downloading, installing, copying, running, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE, You agree to be bound by the terms of this license agreement. If You do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the SOFTWARE. EVALUATION USE This is not free software. If You have downloaded, or otherwise obtained, a Trial (unlicensed) version of the SOFTWARE, You can use it for up to 30 days for the sole purpose of determining whether it meets Your requirements and not for commercial use. At the end of the 30 days, You must either purchase a full, non-evaluation SOFTWARE license or discontinue using the SOFTWARE. Using the SOFTWARE after the 30-day evaluation period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws. COMMERCIAL LICENSE A commercial license can be granted to a legal entity—a company or a single entity—as well as to an individual. PERSONAL LICENSE A personal license can only be granted to an individual and thus can not be granted to a legal entity. With both commercial and/or personal license YOU MAY: (i) Install any number of copies of the SOFTWARE on one or more computers. (ii) With one unique license key personally use only one installed copy of the SOFTWARE at a time. (iii) Make one copy of the SOFTWARE for archival or backup purposes provided that both the original and the backup copies are kept in Your possession. The SOFTWARE is protected by United States and Canadian copyright laws and international treaties. You must treat the SOFTWARE like any other copyrighted material—for example, a book. With either commercial and/or personal license YOU MAY NOT: (iv) Copy the SOFTWARE except to make archival or backup copies as provided above. (v) Modify or adapt the SOFTWARE or merge it into another software program. (vi) Reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile or make any attempt to discover the source code of the SOFTWARE. (vii) Place the SOFTWARE onto a server so that it is accessible via a public network such as the Internet, or (viii) Sublicense, rent, lease or lend any portion of the SOFTWARE. TITLE Deltopia Inc. and/or its suppliers are the owner of all intellectual property rights, title and interest in and to the SOFTWARE (including, but not limited to, images, video, audio, and text that are a part of the SOFTWARE). TRANSFERS You may transfer all Your rights to use the SOFTWARE to another person or legal entity provided that You transfer this Agreement and the SOFTWARE, including all copies, updates and prior versions to such person or entity and that You retain no copies, including copies stored on computer. LIMITED WARRANTY We warrant that for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase the SOFTWARE will perform in substantial accordance with the accompanying written materials. To the extent permitted by applicable law, THE FOREGOING LIMITED WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND WE DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, regardless of whether We know or had reason to know of Your particular needs. No employee, agent, dealer or distributor of ours is authorized to modify this limited warranty, nor to make any additional warranties. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. LIMITED REMEDY Our entire liability and Your exclusive remedy for breach of the foregoing warranty shall be, at Our option, to either: - Return the price You paid, or - Repair or replace the SOFTWARE or media that does not meet the foregoing warranty if it is returned to Us with a copy of Your receipt. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (EVEN IF WE OR AN AUTHORIZED DEALER OR DISTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES), EXCEED THE TOTAL FEES PAID TO US UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE SOFTWARE THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. TERMINATION This license agreement takes effect upon Your use of the software and remains effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by destroying all copies of the SOFTWARE in Your possession. It will also automatically terminate if You fail to comply with any term or condition of this license agreement. You agree on termination of this license to destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE in Your possession. CONFIDENTIALITY The SOFTWARE contains trade secrets and proprietary know-how that belong to Us and it is being made available to You in strict confidence. ANY USE OR DISCLOSURE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR OF ITS ALGORITHMS, PROTOCOLS OR INTERFACES, OTHER THAN IN STRICT ACCORDANCE WITH THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, MAY BE ACTIONABLE AS A VIOLATION OF OUR TRADE SECRET RIGHTS. GENERAL PROVISIONS 1. This written license agreement is the exclusive agreement between You and Us concerning the SOFTWARE and supersedes any prior purchase order, communication, advertising or representation concerning the SOFTWARE. 2. This license agreement may be modified only by a writing signed by You and Us. 3. In the event of litigation between You and Us concerning the SOFTWARE the prevailing party in the litigation will be entitled to recover attorney fees and expenses from the other party. 4. This license agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California. 5. You agree that the SOFTWARE will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country or used in any manner prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act or any other export laws, restrictions or regulations. Regular Expressions Quick Reference
Regular expressions
Several DeltaWalker functionality areas—the file and the folder comparison filters as well as the Find/Replace dialog—leverage the power of regular expressions as a means of searching and matching text. Using regular expressions you can express a diverse set of patterns and be very precise as to the exact text to be matched. Their wide acceptance and knowledge base coverage in the public domain makes them a preferred choice. This section gives a brief introduction to the regular expression syntax. For additional pointers on, please see the references listed in the Related topics section below.
Literals
All characters but the characters specified bellow are interpreted as themselves and the explicitly mentioned characters are interpreted as themselves only when escaped with a backslash (\) character placed right before them: \.[]^$?*+{}|()
Literal escapes
The following table lists and explains special uses of the backslash (\) character in combination with other literals for the purpose of matching certain characters:
Construct Matches
\t The tab character
\n The newline (i.e. line-feed) character
\r The carriage-return character
\f The form-feed character
\a The bell (i.e. alert) character
\e The escape character
\0n The character with octal value 0n (0 <= n <= 7)
\0nn The character with octal value 0nn (0 <= n <= 7) \0mnn The character with octal value 0mnn (0 <= m <= 3, 0 <= n <= 7)
\xhh The character with hexadecimal value 0xhh
\uhhhh The character with hexadecimal value 0xhhhh
\cx The control character corresponding to x
Character classes
The dot (.) character matches any character. It's the simplest and the most widely used case of the so- called character classes - regular sub-expressions with simplified syntax matching sets of characters:
Construct Matches
[abc] a, b, or c (simple class)
[^abc] Any character except a, b, or c (negation)
[a-zA-Z] a through z or A through Z, inclusive (range)
[a-d[m-p]] a through d, or m through p: [a-dm-p] (union)
[a-z&&[def]] d, e, or f (intersection)
[a-z&&[^bc]] a through z, except for b and c: [ad-z] (subtraction)
[a-z&&[^m-p]] a through z, and not m through p: [a-lq-z](subtraction)
\d A digit: [0-9]
\D A non-digit: [^0-9]
\s A whitespace character: [ \t\n\x0B\f\r]
\S A non-whitespace character: [^\s]
\w A word character: [a-zA-Z_0-9] \W A non-word character: [^\w]
Boundary matchers
One of the special meanings of the ^ character has already been demonstrated as part of the syntax to define negated character classes. Its second meaning which is also in wide use is to denote the beginning of a line i.e. it does not match an actual character but discovers where a line starts. Other expressions signaling boundaries are:
Construct Matches
$ The end of a line
\b A word boundary
\B A non-word boundary
\A The beginning of the input
\G The end of the previous match
\Z The end of the input but for the final terminator, if any
\z The end of the input
Quantifiers
Quantifiers enable spelling out the notion of expressions that repeat their match a certain number of times. Expressions that are to match multiple times are suffixed by the quantifiers. The following table lists forms of quantified expressions that are often used:
Construct Matches
X? X, once or not at all
X* X, zero or more times
X+ X, one or more times X{n} X, exactly n times
X{n,} X, at least n times
X{n,m} X, at least n but not more than m times
Logical alternation
When matches at a given position are possible according to different expressions, the | character is used to separate the alternative expressions. For example, the scenario of matching according to either X or Y is expressed with the following form:
X|Y
Groups
Parenthesis group the elements of the regular expression into distinct sub-expressions so that quantifiers and logical alternation can be applied to them.
Appendix 6 - URI Syntax Quick Reference
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters that identifies an abstract or physical resource. The generic URI syntax for accessing files and folders has the following form:
[protocol:][//[user-info@]host[:port]][path] Where user-info in turn can contain the following parts: username[:password]
URI Examples
FTP Description
Identifies a folder named resource on the ftp.deltopia.com server. ftp://ftp.deltopia.com/resource Since no user name or password is specified this is equivalent to anonymous access.
Identifies a file named ftp://ftp.deltopia.com/resource.txt resource.txt on the ftp.deltopia.com server.
Same as above, but with ftp://[email protected]/resource.txt username deltawalker.
Same as above, but with ftp://deltawalker:[email protected]/resource.txt password delta4ever
SFTP (SSH2)
Same meaning as with the sftp://ftp.deltopia.com/resource first FTP example above
HTTP, HTTPS
Identifies the file index.html http://deltopia.com/index.html on the deltopia.com server.
Same as above, this time https://deltopia.com/index.html using HTTPS.
Many FTP servers don't allow setting resource—file and folder—attributes such as date modified. Therefore when files are copied/moved to such servers, they will receive the timestamp of the moment of their creation. One way to avoid such files being flagged as different by the DeltaWalker differencing engine is to set the date modified attributes of the local resources to those of the remote resources. Alternatively, use the SFTP protocol as SFTP servers typically allow greater control including setting the date modified attribute when copying/moving files. Note that HTTP and HTTPS can be used for accessing files, but not folders. Furthermore, files opened over HTTP/HTTPS cannot be saved back. You can save them either using FTP/SFTP access to the server you loaded them from provided it supports FTP/SFTP, or you can save them locally.